Frozen Too
by walleye
Summary: The sequel. All the major characters return, especially Prince Hans who is out to destroy Elsa and Anna. Hans has an ally, a witch who is out for revenge on Elsa and Anna for events that happened because the gates were closed. The Southern Isles are sending an ambassador who has his own terrible secrets. Olaf finds true love. Marshmallow is transformed. The love experts win.
1. The Present

The time is three months after the end of the events of Frozen. Everyone in Arendelle is so thrilled and awed by their beautiful Queen and her magic of winter. Queen Elsa is so giddy after suppressing her feelings for nearly ten years that she can't help having spontaneous outbursts of pleasure, laughter, and of course love.

Where she was once in total control and hid her feelings she now wears them on her sleeve for all to see as it is through love she now has the control that eluded her for a decade. There are times when she just looks at her sister and breaks down into tears of happiness. The two still hug hard each day as if they cannot believe this happiness they can both share as loving sisters is real thanks to Anna's acts of love and courage.

However, some say 'no good deed ever goes unpunished.' And Kai the seneschal for the Queen is beginning to wonder if those prophets of doom might have a point. He wants his Queen to be happy but she is also the ruler and has to deal with other rulers and they don't wear their emotions on their sleeves. In fact the Duke of Weselton probably keeps a dagger up his.

Now real trouble is approaching. The Southern Isles are sending an ambassador to Arendelle to deal with all the trouble stirred up by Prince Hans and his ship is due soon. He is afraid that it'll be a huge test of Elsa's resolve and ability to be Queen in her present emotional state.

However, when he mentions that the ambassador is arriving tomorrow, he sees another side of Elsa's emotions. Cold, unrelenting anger. She and Anna are both wrathful, remembering Prince Hans, and they decide to show this unwanted guest exactly how they feel about his prince, him and his country.

Kai sighs. At least this is better than the heart on the sleeve and he himself is also feeling anger towards the Southern Isles. Let the ambassador beware. This will be handled with quick and brusque formality and then he will work with his queen to help her get her runaway emotions under control. Unfortunately events from the past are going to interfere with his hopes.


	2. Nine Years Ago

"Prepare to close the gates." Kai the Seneschal ordered the guards the night the King and Queen gave their orders to protect Elsa and Anna. "The King says they'll stay closed until future notice and no one is to be admitted."

"No one?" One of the guards asked with a puzzled look. "What about the farmers bringing food or the doctor if someone gets ill?"

Kai grimaced. He was right. "I'll work it out with the King but for the next week no one gets in. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." The guards chorused.

One asked. "If they are insistent is force authorized?"

Kai sighed. "Use your best judgment and intelligence. But no one gets in." He looked intently at them. "Also, any mention to you that the princess has magic abilities is not to be believed. The King says she is normal."

"Yes, sir." The guards all saluted.

He turned to look sadly at the staff members being released. "I'm sorry that your positions were terminated." He handed out small draw-string bags with coins in them. "Take these with the King's blessings for your good services."

There was some grumbling but the coins were accepted. What else could they do?

"What will we do for work?" One woman complained. "Jobs are scarce."

"If you can't find a position, come and see me in two weeks. I may be able to find you something, but it won't be inside the castle anymore." With more grumblings and dark looks the former staff members headed out into the town. It had begun to rain.

It was several hours later that two figures could be seen making their way from the docks up to the castle gates through the rain. One was a fourteen year old blond-haired boy and the other was his red-haired twelve-year old sister. They were both dressed poorly and had come a long way on an old fishing boat, a passage bought with their last few coins, to reach Arendelle.

"Are you sure, Eric, that the King and Queen of Arendelle will help me?" The girl asked. She already showed signs of blossoming into a great beauty. She lifted her right hand and a white unicorn seemed to dance on her palm. "The magic is getting stronger when it comes even if its comings are erratic. Are you really sure they'll help me?"

The boy nodded and took her other hand. "They are a wise and kind King and Queen and one of their daughters is rumored to be able to do the magic of winter and I was told they went to the trolls to get her help. How can they turn you down, Lisbet, since you can do the magic of all seasons?" He smiled at her. "Maybe you and this Princess Elsa can work together to help each other."

She sniffed as the unicorn image vanished. "I hope you're right. I'm so hungry and there have been so many disappointments, especially in Weselton where their Duke called me a sorceress and wanted to lock me away."

He patted her hand. "The Duke is an exception. He has no heart. Don't let the actions of one bad man ruin you, sister." By now they had reached the gates. He looked up and called out. "Hello, the gate keepers. We seek admission to the castle."

A gruff voice from one of the tired and wet guards shouted back. "Go away, boy. The gates have been closed permanently on the order of the King."

"But we need help, good sir. My sister Lisbet has an affliction similar to Princess Elsa's snow magic and she needs aid in learning to control it."

"Boy, the Princess has no such affliction and no one is being allowed into the castle until further orders. Now, go away."

"But, Sir."

"Boy." The unseen guard growled. "Go away or we'll make you sorry you ever came here. We have our orders. No one is being admitted." There was the sound of something flying through the air and an arrow embedded itself in the ground in front of their feet. "Go or the next one will be aimed at you. This is your last warning." There was a flash of lightning, followed by a crack of thunder and the rain began pouring down harder.

"Come on, Lisbet." Eric took her hand. "We'll come back in the morning and ask to speak to someone who'll listen." In the back of his mind was the thought if that failed then they would seek out the trolls.

"The people here are just like everyone else." She said bitterly. "They won't help us tomorrow either."

They never got to find out as a new flash of lightning and an almost simultaneous crash of thunder spooked a draft horse-pulled wagon filled with heavy barrels into stampeding. It was on top of them before they were even aware it was there.

"Lisbet, look out!" Eric shouted and shoved her hard and out of the way. He was not as fortunate as both the horses and the heavy wagon ran over him, leaving his body a twisted wreck in the mud.

"Brother!" She screamed. She knelt in the mud and touched his bloody head. There was no response. "Eric!" She tried to do the magic that might save her brother and it fizzled out. She was too upset and unskilled to control it. She knelt in the mud weeping.

A heavy-set man with a horse whip approached her. "What do you mean scaring my horses like this? Get away." He blanched when he saw the twisted body. "This is not my fault." He turned and shouted. "Get a constable."

Lisbet was never sure what happened afterwards but their looks of concern became guarded when she told them why she was here. They looked at each other and nodded. She was crazy. Anyone who claimed to do magic was crazy. There was a place for people like that.

In this case Elsa's father's and mother's fears about how people would react to someone who could supposedly do magic were proved true. The authorities took the bereaved twelve-year-old and locked her in a house for the criminally insane.

In the early morning light a grieving Lisbet, not knowing the worst was yet to come when she would be put in the general population of the house inmates, looked out a window at the shuttered castle and swore fervently that someday she would avenge Eric and make those in the castle pay. The girl who could've become Elsa's best friend was now her family's devout enemy.


	3. Closed Gates Don't Keep Everything Out

Four Years ago - Shut Gates Don't Keep Everything Out

Princess Elsa's first signs at nearly fourteen that things weren't normal were the changes that come to all women when they turn from young girls to women. The physical problems were simpler to handle than the emotional ones and for the first time in her struggle to control her powers and keep everyone out she found herself filled with yearnings and desires that she had no experience with and which threatened her control. Finally she asked to speak with her mother and only her mother.

When the King asked why he was being excluded, his wife told him why in blunt and very earthy terms. After that he was glad to leave it in her hands.

There was a rap at the door very different from Anna's. "Elsa." Her mother's voice said. "I'm here."

"Mother, I need to ask you questions about what's happening inside me." Elsa said as she approached the door. She could feel her fingers tingling inside her gloves.

There was a sigh. "Open the door, dear, or do you want every servant in the castle to overhear?"

Elsa frowned. How could she protect her mother if she let her in? But her mother would be careful and she certainly didn't want the gossiping servants to overhear. For the first time in nearly six months she opened the door to let her mother slip in.

"How are you, Elsa?" Her mother asked.

Elsa sighed. "Scared and very confused." She looked at her blue gloves. "It's not just the storm inside me. It's new and different feelings and they're threatening my resolve."

Her mother sat in the one chair still standing. She wanted to hold her daughter's hands but didn't dare, knowing what Elsa's reactions would be. "You're becoming a woman and will no longer be a girl, my dear. It's all perfectly natural. It just means that you want someone besides your family to love you. It can be a difficult time but we all get through it."

"You felt this way too?"

"But of course. The way I handled it was to fantasize about a handsome knight on his charger who would carry me off." She smiled. "I got your father instead, but it all turned out well in the end."

Elsa sat on the edge of the bed. "That'll never happen to me. I'll never find someone to love me other than those of my family who already do." She stared at her treacherous hands and shivered. "And I can never touch you or any of them. So please don't talk to me of an outside love"

"Never is a long time, my dear. Someday I'm sure you'll find someone who can love you."

"Oh, Mother, I wish you were right but it's not going to happen." Elsa snapped in frustration. "If you want to help me, then please tell me how I can handle these desires as they're threatening everything I need to do to maintain control."

Her Mother looked at her and for the first time became afraid that they'd made a dreadful mistake in seeking to protect their daughter in the way they'd done. But her daughter needed her help and she couldn't change the past.

"Can you makeup daydreams without releasing your powers?"

Elsa frowned. "What do you mean?"

Her Mother gestured. "I mean could you do like I did? Fantasize? Makeup a story about being rescued from this by a handsome knight and not lose control?"

Elsa chuckled grimly. "How do you think I stay sane locked all alone in here by myself? Of course I fantasize. Mostly about locking the powers away forever and leading a normal life, being able to play with my sister, to have a normal meal with all of you, and to go outside and dip my toes in a stream without it freezing." She said softly. "Of course I fantasize."

Her Mother smiled. "I think you have your answer then. Fantasize about love and I think you'll have the relief that you seek as you won't be touching anyone." She could see that even this short a visit was straining her daughter. "Is there anything else, I can help you with, my dear?"

"No. I don't think so." She smiled at her Mother. "Thank you, Mom."

Her Mother went to the door and then turned to look at her suffering daughter. "Always remember, Elsa, I love you."

Elsa wiped tears from her eyes. "I love you too." She didn't know it but it was the last time they'd speak together. Within a year her Mother would be gone.

That night with the full moon shining on the fall fields Elsa looked out her window and saw a snarl of bushes which looked like they had wings. She squinted her eyes and imagined them as a dragon. Facing them was a rock with a fallen tree trunk sticking out from it. This was a knight with his lance, ready to slay the dragon while it breathed fire.

She didn't imagine herself as the princess waiting to be rescue. Instead she thought of herself as the rescuer rushing bravely in to slay the dragon and save the knight. She imagined the dragon shooting fire and the knight charging with his lance. The knight would be knocked down and then she would be there, using her powers to set everything right and freezing the dragon solid.

Each night the fantasy grew more and more vivid until she could almost imagine it was really happening. However the beginnings and endings were always the same. She'd be lamenting. "All I want is love. Is that too much to ask?" The battle would begin and end with her rescuing the knight but in the ending she could never see his face when he lifted his visor. So she just hugged him in his armor and with that he was the perfect lover for her condition as he couldn't be hurt when she hugged him or he hugged her back.

Then had come that horrible day when her Mother and Father had perished at sea. After that she never went back to the fantasy as it reminded her too much of her mother.

It is now almost four years later just at the end of Frozen and the past is about to explode into the present. Elsa had been wrong on the North Mountain when she had declared "the past is in the past" as it never stays there.


	4. The Ambassador Arrives

Earl Georg the ambassador of the Southern Isles straightened his cravat and adjusted his grey coat in front of the mirror in his ship's cabin. He took a comb and ran it through his still abundant white hair. His two older brothers had already lost all of theirs. He nodded at his reflection. Not a hair was out of place. He knew he was going to need all the diplomatic armor he could muster to carry out his King's orders, especially when his hostesses realized what was going to happen. He had to be ready and at the same time sympathetic as both young women had been badly mistreated by that scoundrel Prince Hans, leaving him to clean up this mess.

There was a knock at the cabin door. He opened the door and saw the steward standing there. "We've received word from the castle, Lord Ambassador. They've accepted your diplomatic papers and you have an audience as you requested with the Queen and her sister but it's at 2PM which is five hours from now."

"Thank you, steward. I'll be ready to go ashore by 1:30." He shut the door. After lunch, eh? A message had been sent and received. He would not be invited to eat with them. It was their way of informing him of their displeasure with anybody from the Kingdom of the Southern Isles. Not that he blamed them.

He gave himself a last look in the mirror and then went to sit down and look over the contents of his briefcase which contained all his papers, witnessed and sealed. He was going to need them all if he was going to try and prevent a war and they were his best weapons.

"I'm bored." A female voice said from behind him. "Can't I go ashore and explore, Father? We've been cooped up in this stuffy room for nearly a week. I want to go and have some fun."

He considered this and then nodded. "I don't see why not. It's as bright a fall day as you're going to find this far north. Just don't burn down the town while having fun and be sure to be back here before dark, daughter of my heart."

"Thank you. Thank you. I love you, Daddy." A warm kiss was implanted on his cheek and then in a flash she was gone.

He touched his cheek where she'd kissed him and smiled. He had no idea what he would've done if this daughter of his heart hadn't suddenly appeared just after his wife Freya's death. There were times in the months after Freya's death when he'd contemplated ending things but she'd always been there with her undying love for her father and pulled him through.

He considered ordering lunch before his meeting but then decided against it. He had found over the years that when negotiations could be troublesome that food sat too heavily on his stomach and gave him heart burn. He went back to examining his papers.

Of course everything was in order as it should be. He leaned back with time to kill and thought back on why he was here.

At first his King had just requested in the letter he sent that he go to Arendelle as his ambassador. A request that he had curtly refused. He had no intention of going anywhere until death came to claim him in the ruins of what had been their home. The next letter from the King explained the King's reasons more clearly and was a direct order. Again he had refused and had thought by insulting his King he was done with the matter. He'd been so wrong.

A week later King Lars Erickson himself had appeared at his door. The King had been very curt and direct. He was intensely worried about the future concerning Arendelle with their Queen's newly revealed powers and the raw emotional state she was in. One you in your grief should be able to relate to he had pointed out. The King was very afraid of what could happen in the next couple of years with fools like the Duke of Weselton thrown into the mix. Queen Elsa's life was in danger from people filled with fear over something they didn't understand and that threatened the stability of the entire region as an attack on their beloved Queen by someone like the Duke would plunge Arendelle into war.

The King had explained that there was an even more immediate threat. The situation between the Southern Isles and Arendelle was very tense after his son's reckless actions and now it could explode at any time into open warfare as Arendelle was in violation of the Treaty of Oslo although he feared that they were unaware of it.

He had ignored his King. He had just sat there in his home, staring at his hands, feeling nothing. All he wanted was for this interview to be over with so he could go back to what would likely be his last resting place where he would be reunited with Freya.

The King had played his trump card. He had brought Prince Hans himself forward and angrily told his son to confess as to what he'd done to two young women in his mad attempt to gain power.

It'd been while he had listened to that young popinjay brag about what he'd done that an emotion had shattered the nothingness that filled him. It was one of intense anger and he began to sweat heavily and tremble as he struggled to control himself. Like most Norwegian men he was part of a culture that treated women as equals just as their Viking forefathers had which was unlike much of the rest of Europe. How dare this little monster use and abuse women so? No woman deserved the treatment this lying schemer had served them. He deserved to be horse whipped.

Then the Prince had said with a sneer that he'd missed his chance to murder both weak-willed weepy women with one blow of his sword so that he could rule Arendelle and he was only sorry that the blow had never landed and cut them into pieces.

Earl Georg saw their bloody bodies lying on the ground dead just like his Freya. He almost went for his weapon, but then remembered his wife and her urging that he control the fires within and he decided he'd take greater satisfaction in the physical.

He'd leaped out of his chair and punched the shocked Prince Hans in the belly. Then as Hans started to collapse he'd punched him so hard in the jaw that the Prince had dropped unconscious. As he stood there panting and sweating he was dimly aware that by striking a royal son he could be convicted of treason and the boy's father was staring right at him.

King Lars had done nothing but look down at Hans in disgust and mutter something about a cuckoo egg in the nest. Then he had gestured for his son to be dragged away by his feet back to his cell on the ship. The King had looked into his angry eyes and said that those two young women didn't deserve what would happen to them and their country if this situation was not handled very carefully by someone who understood what they'd gone through and that he was the only man for the job.

So what if the Earl had only two years to live. He could still do a great deal of good, especially for these two young women who didn't deserve the war that could fall on them.

The Earl had sighed and almost heard Freya whispering in his ear to do this last thing for her.

He sighed again in resignation, sat down and asked for the pertinent documents. After he read them he'd nodded. One last time into the fray for honor, to keep the peace, and to help two young women who didn't even know they needed his help. His main hope was that he could do some good here before death claimed him.

He shook himself out of his reverie and glanced at the ticking wall clock. It was nearly time to go.

As he stepped out of his room and turned to lock the door a voice asked from the room across the hall. "Do you really think she'll see us?"

He glanced at the closed door. "Your graces, it'll all depend on how the meeting this afternoon turns out. I'll send word as soon as I can when it's time for you." There was a murmur of thanks and other voices grumbled at the delay. He shrugged and climbed the stairs to the deck where he was met by one of the stewards.

As he followed the steward along the deck he got his first good look at Arendelle. The town was impressive. It was clean and neat and there were no signs of poverty. He understood this was characteristic of the entire kingdom. In large part this had been due to the Regency of Duke Grey who'd had the misfortune to pass on just before Elsa's coronation. In a way he'd been the perfect Regent as he'd made a lot of changes to help the people outside the closed gates and then had the grace to pass on and leave Elsa a clear path to the throne.

He nodded to the man in the green livery from the castle who met him at the foot of the gangway as he exited the ship and he followed the man as he escorted him towards the castle.

His first impressions were only confirmed as he progressed through the town with its healthy, happy people. The Queen deserved as much credit as the former Duke as she'd continued his policies. He only wished he was meeting her under better circumstances.

Finally, he was standing outside the doors to the room for the visitation at the appointed time. He was kept cooling his heels for nearly an hour and a half. Another message of royal displeasure. Finally the oak doors opened and he could see this was a secondary viewing room, used for lesser purposes. No ornate throne room for him. He smiled. Messages received. Now he had one to deliver.

A heavy chested man in the ever-present green livery announced pompously. "Your Majesties, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle, the ambassador Earl Georg of the Southern Isles." The way he put emphasis on the last words you could tell exactly how he felt. After Prince Hans who could blame him.

His first impression was that Queen Elsa who sat on the larger throne was one of the most stunningly beautiful women he'd ever seen and her sister sitting on a second throne beside her was no slouch in the look's department either. From the cold look in their eyes, he knew if he tried to tell them that, they'd take it as false flattery and he'd be dismissed from their minds immediately as being of no consequence. These women were both self-confident and needed no flattering words to make them feel important. They were important and they both knew it.

He bowed. "Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, I thank you for your courtesy in agreeing to see me." He got cold nods from both women for his trouble. The Queen looked like she was trembling to speak once the formalities were done and he knew it would be a venting of royal displeasure at him and his country. This had to be avoided as it would only make things even more difficult than they already were to keep the peace.

He forestalled her tirade by hurrying on. "But before I can speak of the business which brought me here, I and my King apologize to both of you for all the evil that our former representative, Prince Hans, did while here." Two sets of eyes widened in surprise. They had not expected this. "None of it was at my King's directives and when he found out that his son had attempted regicide of the Queen of Arendelle and tried to murder Princess Anna, then the Prince was immediately arrested and imprisoned. You can be assured that he is in jail even as I speak, awaiting trial for his crimes."

"Good." Anna growled. "What will his punishment be?"

He could feel the cold anger in her words. Her experience with Hans had left her still hurt and angry. Hans had that effect on a lot of people as he'd found from his interview with him. How Prince Hans had ever talked his father into sending him here as the Islands' representative for the coronation he had no idea.

He bowed. "Princess Anna, as you are one of the ones he tried to foully murder, when he's found guilty, then you have under our law a final say on his punishment which will be selected from either exile, life in prison, or beheading."

"Beheading?" The two sisters looked at each other and grimaced. "Ewehh!"

"Ambassador, that seems a little barbaric." Queen Elsa declared.

He sighed. She was young and had a lot to learn but he hoped it happened slowly for her. "If you so ask for it not to be done, then he'll not be executed, your Majesty."

He reached into his case and brought out papers which he handed over to the seneschal. "As part of my business I brought documents transcribed with the crimes Prince Hans was supposed to have committed. I need you and those others involved to look them over, verify them, or if you differ write for us what you witnessed on other papers and have them notarized. They will be used in his trial. From all I've seen and heard, he'll be found guilty. That I promise you. He dishonored us all and you most of all, Princess Anna."

Anna looked away and there were tears in the corners of her eyes. "Yes he did. I thought he loved me when he asked me to marry him and all he wanted to do was take over the kingdom."

He reached into his briefcase and pulled the second set of papers out. He knew he was walking into something that could explode in his face. He looked first at Queen Elsa and then at her sister. "That brings me to other actions that Prince Hans took. According to his own testimony and what was just said he asked Princess Anna on the night of the coronation to marry him. Is this correct?"

"Yes." Anna grimaced. Then she said something under her breath which in the last phrase seemed to rhyme with 'son of a witch'

He nodded. "But, Queen Elsa, you refused to allow Princess Anna to marry him. This is correct?"

Queen Elsa frowned and it suddenly felt several degrees colder in the room. "Yes. I refused to give them my blessing."

Anna patted her hand. "Best thing you ever did."

Queen Elsa smiled at her. "I did give my blessing for you to marry Kristoff." The temperature rose several degrees. She looked over at the ambassador. "Earl Georg, I assume there is a point to all this."

"Please bear with me, your Majesty. I am coming to it." He looked at the papers and then back up at her. "According to Prince Hans' testimony on that last day when the storm was raging, he exchanged words with you out on the frozen fiord. His words were 'Elsa, you can't run from this.' And you replied 'Take care of my sister.' Is this correct?"

Queen Elsa frowned. "You have to remember I harbored the thought I was going to have to do something to stop myself and I wanted Anna to be happy and I thought she and Hans were in love. Yes, I said those words."

Anna nodded. "Then he lied to you that I was dead and you collapsed."

Queen Elsa sighed. "All my life I'd tried to save you by hiding my powers and when he told me that you had been killed by me, everything crashed." She reached over and held her sister's hand. "It was then by an act of true love you saved me." The two smiled at each other as their hands tightened.

He waited quietly until they turned to look at him. "I'm afraid there is now a problem, Queen Elsa."

She frowned. "Problem?" Anna looked at him in puzzlement.

He sighed. He could end up buried in ice in the next minute and more secrets would be revealed. "Queen Elsa, when you gave your blessing to the marriage proposal that day on the fjord, then at that moment it became an act of law."

"What?" Elsa gasped out. Snow started to fall.

Anna's mouth fell open and then she shot to her feet. "You mean to say I'm engaged to that despicable monster!?" She shouted.

"No, you're not." Elsa snapped. "I withdraw my blessing. You're going to marry the man you love." Frost was climbing the walls.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty." He said, wishing he didn't have to tell her what came next. "It's much too late for that."

"What do you mean by that?" Her eyes narrowed and ice started spreading out from her and this time it was aimed right at him.

He wiped his head with his handkerchief. Even if it was below freezing, he was sweating. "It's according to the Treaty of Oslo that all our kingdoms signed. Your father's signing was his last act as king as his ship was lost on the way back from the ceremony." The two looked pale and he knew they were remembering that terrible day when the sea had claimed their beloved parents.

He continued. "According to the treaty when a marriage tender is made by the representative of one kingdom to another the tender is not valid even if accepted if a refusal is sent to the offering party in writing within thirty five days. After that it is valid." He looked at the writing on the paper. "According to these dates as to when the proposal was accepted over sixty days have passed. As no refusal was ever sent in writing, the tender is now valid and in effect."

Queen Elsa came to her feet. "Sir, I think you'd better leave." Behind her Anna was standing, crying in disbelief that she was now engaged to a would-be murderer. A cold, biting wind began to blow.

More sweat broke out. He steeled himself as the cold crawled and crackled across the walls and the floor and touched his shoes. "Your Majesty, please let me finish. There is more. Princess Anna does not have to marry a criminal like Prince Hans."

Anna looked out from behind her fingers. "I don't? I can still marry Kristoff?"

"Yes, Princess Anna, we of the Southern Isles are not barbarians. May you two have a long and happy life together." She sat down with a smile. Elsa nodded in relief and the cold stopped advancing.

He bent over and plucked the treaty out of his brief and flipped to the relevant pages. "The treaty writers took into account the possibility that the one asked and the one asking might not be able to perform the marriage for many reasons which I won't go into here. Suffice it to say that Prince Hans's criminal actions make him unfit to be wed. This is why the writers said the tender of marriage is always considered to be a binding contract between the two houses involved and not person specific and that after thirty-five days if not rejected in writing such a binding contract will be in force just as it is now between our two houses."

Queen Elsa frowned which did not make her any less beautiful. "You mean someone from the royal family of Arendelle must now marry someone from the royal house of the Southern Isles?"

He nodded. She had grasped the main point quite quickly. "Exactly, Your Majesty. According to the treaty since your house was asked and you are its head you get to pick who'll marry from amongst those eligible in your house and you get to pick the mate from the other house. However, this period lasts for only six months and if no choice is made, then the equal right of choice moves to the other house."

Queen Elsa looked puzzled and then shocked. "Since Anna is engaged, then I'm the only eligible one in my house and I'm also the chooser." She clenched her fists and announced coldly. "I won't do it." The frost was advancing again, the storm was howling inside once more.

He put the treaty away. "Then in six months the choice will be made for you by the King of the Southern Isles. Do you really want that?"

Something seemed to flash behind her eyes like an animal in a trap. "You can't enforce this. You can't make me marry against my will." She lifted her hands and snow blown by howling winds was plunging right at him, slamming him to the floor.

"Elsa?" Anna exclaimed in shock.

"You don't know what you're dealing with here!" Elsa shouted as she clenched her right hand into a fist and punched it downwards. A solid wall of snow fell on him and turned him into a man of ice

"Elsa, no!" Anna screamed.

Elsa didn't listen. The fear was back. The storm was back. Outside her its winds howled.

Abruptly she staggered as her power was met and answered, stunning her enough to break her control. The wind ceased and the snow hovered in the air.

"Elsa, thank God, you stopped." Anna ran over and embraced her sister. She gestured at the man in the gleaming ice shell. "Now, please, unfreeze him."

Elsa who had been staring at her hands looked up at her sister with a puzzled expression. "But I didn't stop. Something stopped me." She looked over at the ice man and frowned. "As for unfreezing him, it's already happening."

The snow in the air turned to rain and that on the ground melted and ran out the floor drains. The ice man standing before them began to glow fiercely inside his ice shell. With a roar the ice blew into fragments and where the ambassador had stood was a being made of red and yellow flames which crackled and roared. Slowly the flames faded away to reveal the ambassador.

He smiled sadly. "You're not the only one who has been cursed, Queen Elsa. I too have suffered and will continue to suffer from the storm raging inside me."

As they stared at him he continued. "Please reconsider rejecting the treaty as breaking the treaty could very well lead to war between your house and the other treaty signing houses as failure to comply turns all the other signing houses against you. This could become a war of fire and ice and other even more terrifying magic, where everyone would lose." She abruptly sat down and he saw reason return to her eyes.

She nodded. "You are right." Anna closed her mouth with a snap. "I forgot that a queen has responsibilities far beyond what is good and suitable for her. She must love her people and she must put them first." She could almost see both of her parents nodding in agreement.

He smiled at her. "You fulfill and surpass all my expectations of you, your Majesty. You are a decent, intelligent and loving person who was trained well to the responsibility of ruling Arendelle."

She looked closely at him and stared into his eyes before looking away. "You really mean that. I can see it in your eyes. Like me your emotions are on the surface for all to see."

He nodded. "It comes from trying to control the storm inside. There is no room for anything but honesty and love if we are to maintain even an illusion of control over our storms. Once we give in to fear or anger, then all control is lost."

She shook her head. "An honest and loving man as an ambassador? My father would never have believed it possible."

Reminded of his purpose here, he gestured in the direction of his ship at the docks. "I am sorry, but that brings me to the next piece of my business here, Your Majesty, as you appear to have agreed at least for the moment with my interpretation of the law. In order to save time, my King sent six of his sons aboard my ship as eligible suitors for you to select from. They'll call on you when you're fully ready to receive them."

Queen Elsa stared at him and then shook her head as if trying to clear it. "Earl Georg, we need to talk about all this and the arrangements if they happen, but first I need to discuss this with my people to verify what you've just told us." She stood, indicating the audience was at an end. "I invite you to have dinner with us tonight where we can discuss all of this after I talk to the court barristers."

He bowed to her. "I gladly accept your generous invitation." He knew that despite her sheltered upbringing she knew exactly what she was doing and would do the right thing. Her father and mother had trained her well to be the queen.

She turned to the staring Seneschal. "See that one of the best guest rooms in the palace is made available for the ambassador, Kai." She looked back at him. "We will see you at dinner, Earl Georg."

He bowed. "I look forward to it, your Majesty."

The Poem Fire and Ice by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire.

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire,

I hold with those who favor fire.


	5. True Love

Queen Elsa was drumming her fingers hard on the arm of her throne in impatience while the seneschal and the head court barrister conferred. They had been going over the papers supplied by the ambassador and their copy of the Treaty of Oslo. The seneschal kept gesturing but the barrister just kept shaking his head. That was not a good sign.

She felt the fear rising again. She bit her lip. She had to control not the magic but the fear. The old troll had been right when he'd said fear would be her worst enemy. She now realized that he had not been referring only to the fear of her by others but her own fears.

Over by a window Kristoff and Anna were softly talking as they held hands. At least for them the worry was over. For her it had just begun. If this insane law was correct she was going to have to select a husband to be from six offered candidates. What if they were all like Hans? It was said the apples from the same tree had similar traits.

The seneschal finally sighed and turned to face her. The barrister stood respectfully behind him with the papers under his arm. "Your Majesty, Queen Elsa, I'm afraid that it is as Ambassador Georg has presented. We see no way to avoid his conclusions." He grimaced. "It looks like you'll be choosing our future king."

She stiffened. "I may be getting married but that doesn't make him my ruler." She leaned forward. "Am I incorrect, Barrister Bjorn, in assuming that the power of the throne resides in me and not any husband?"

He nodded and turned to one of his assistants. "Bring me the book on successions." He took it and flipped to a well-marked place. He read quickly and then looked up. "You are correct, Your Majesty. Since your husband would not be of the Arendelle bloodlines he would be third in line after Princess Anna and if she has children they would be before him as would any children by you and him." At the mention of children he noticed the Queen grimacing and he hurried on. "I'm sorry but the Seneschal misspoke. His title would be Consort and not King."

"Thank you." She said. She got to her feet. "I need to confer with Anna and then we have to prepare for our dinner meeting with the Ambassador. You are both dismissed." They bowed and backed away.

"How's she handling all this?" Kristoff asked Anna. He'd seen this worried look before back in the Ice Palace on the North Mountain just after she'd gone all ice crazy.

"Better than I thought she might." Anna went forward and took her sister's hands in her own. "Just remember, Elsa, I'll always be here for you." She gave a small gasp as Elsa hugged her hard and then she returned the hug.

"I know you will be." Elsa whispered over Anna's shoulder. "It's the only reason I haven't lost it."

Kristoff knew what had happened the last time Elsa had lost it and gone all ice and snow crazy. They'd had an eternal winter everywhere. At times like this he missed the presence of Sven but the reindeer wasn't housebroken. Thinking of Sven brought Olaf to mind. He wondered where Olaf was.

He shouldn't have. The snowman was out enjoying his first exposure to all the fall colors. He walked down a path between the brightly colored trees kicking their red and gold fallen leaves into the air. "This is amazing. I've never seen so many chartreuses, vermilions, and yellows. Here yellow is good. Ha Ha. But solid brown and round in the piles is not." A dog went scampering by and he held his nose. "Eweee."

He dove into a pile of autumn leaves and tossed them into the air. "This is my favorite season next to summer of course. It's just so colorful. There are so many colors that I can't choose my favorite. But I think if I had my druthers I'd go with red."

"I'm glad you like it. It's my favorite." A sweet female voice said from behind him.

He turned his head and when he saw her it spun like a basketball. He was staring at small red woman no taller than himself but her body seemed to be made out of fire. Yellow flames discretely covered her loins and breasts and her hair was the bright-white of the sun and fell in long rolling flames from her head to below her shoulders. She had an hourglass shaped body and her legs were proportionate to her body and it was like her feet were enclosed in slippers made out of blue flames.

She never seemed to stand still for a second as she danced from leaf pile to leaf pile. Where she touched smoke puffed slightly but no flames burst out. She moved so fast it was like she was a hummingbird.

"Can't you stand still?" He pleaded. "I just want to look at you."

"Not on the leaves I can't." She leaped up on a rock ledge and posed with her hands behind her head. She was stunning. "I'd set them afire if I paused in them." She smiled. "I can tell that you like what you see."

For the first time he felt a heart beating in his chest and he knew he was in love with heat personified. For this one he'd gladly melt just for one kiss. "Oh, you're so beautiful. What's your name?"

She bowed. "I'm called Rufina. I'm a fire woman." She straightened and giggled. "What's yours?"

He couldn't seem to remember it and then choked out. "Olaf. I'm a snowman." He belatedly remembered to bow.

"That's what I find so beguiling about you. You're different." She giggled again. "I'm fire and you're ice." She danced forward and he felt a wave of heat almost overwhelm his flurries. She pecked him on the cheek and quickly stepped back up on her ledge. She smiled sweetly. "I think this is a true case of opposites attracting. I'm fire and you're ice." She began to sing.

"They say that opposites do attract,

I'm here to declare this is fact.

You're ice and I am afire.

You're slow but I never tire.

I am hot and you are so cold.

But I now declare in words' bold

That fire and ice together belong

In a love that makes us both strong.

Both give feelings very intense.

That it just makes a kind of sense

For us to join together as one

And my heart now you have so won."

"Me? You really want me?" She smiled and nodded.

He began to sing:

"I may be made out of white, soft snow,

But one thing for sure that I do know

Is that I have always loved the heat.

And being with you I will repeat

Is the greatest joy that I ever felt.

And now on my bent knees I have knelt.

And now I declare for all to hear

That life without you I cannot bear.

So let our glowing love fire now start

As I love you with all my snow heart."

She held her arms out and he bounded up on the ledge to embrace her and receive a kiss. There was a cloud of steam and a slightly reduced Olaf stood there grinning foolishly while staring into her eyes.

He sighed and knew he was lost forever in those blue flaming eyes that looked back at him with such passion. He had found a personification of the heat he loved so much. For the moment all thoughts of his friends Elsa and Anna were forgotten.


	6. The Dinner Date

Ambassador Georg was escorted into the dining room and shown to stand behind a chair which from the place settings was going to be on the Queen's right. The two places opposite him had to be for Princess Anna and her fiancé. This was another message but this time it was one of respect.

The seneschal announced. "Princess Anna of Arendelle and her fiancé, Kristoff." The two entered arm in arm and took their places behind their chairs. Kristoff nodded at him.

"Queen Elsa of Arendelle."

Queen Elsa as beautiful as always entered alone and approached her chair. She paused and looked at them. "Please be seated."

Kristoff pulled out and held Anna's chair for her and that was all the clue that Georg needed. He stepped to the side and pulled Elsa's chair back slightly so she didn't have to. "Allow me, Queen Elsa."

She stared at him in surprise. Anna and Kristoff looked worriedly at her and waited for her reaction. A small smile lit up her face as she realized he'd done an act of kindness for her and from his emotions it was a true act of kindness and not some ploy. "Thank you, Ambassador. I have had so few visitors until recently that I'm afraid common courtesies are foreign to me. Your kindness is appreciated." He followed her descent to take her seat with the chair and got it in place perfectly.

She seated herself and gave him a nod. And as Kristoff assisted Anna, he returned and took his seat. He glanced at the seneschal who gave him a slight smile and a nod of approval. He wondered if this time it'd been a test by the seneschal. If it was, he'd passed.

No one said anything through the appetizer and while they awaited the main course Queen Elsa asked him. "Are you married, Earl Georg?"

He knew the motivation behind this question as marriage was too much on her mind at the moment. "Yes, I was but she was recently taken from me, but Freya will live in my heart for as long as I breathe."

Queen Elsa flinched as she had not expected a reply that touched so close to the recent deaths of her own parents. "I'm sorry. Were there any children?"

"No. As much as I wish it could've been different, she was taken too soon for there to have been any."

Anna looked sad. "Then you're alone now?"

He decided that it would be better if things got out in the open instead of being hid behind words. Kristoff was frowning as he tried to parse what he'd just said and reconcile it with his apparent age. He'd figure it out but he might not believe it.

He didn't answer Anna directly but posed a question of his own. "Princess Anna, how old do you think I am?" When she hesitated, he spread his hands. "From my hair color alone, please hazard a guess."

Anna frowned. "Fifty?" She ventured.

Kristoff smiled. "Quite a bit older than that I'd say."

"Kristoff!" Anna dug him in the ribs with a very sharp elbow.

"Ouch. But he does look that." He protested as she glared at him.

Earl Georg smiled. "I dare say that most would venture an even greater age than that, young man."

Queen Elsa took a slight sip of her white wine, swallowed, and said. "I'd say you're much younger than fifty." She smiled at Anna and Kristoff. "They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Have you looked into his eyes? They speak of youth but tempered with experience. Without the hair coloration and just seeing the eyes alone, I'd say you were at most forty, Earl Georg."

"That's impossible." Kristoff exclaimed.

Anna looked over at her sister and saw she was serious and then she looked back at the Earl who gave her a smile and a raised wineglass in salute. She took a deep look into his eyes and then nodded. "I think Elsa's right."

These were highly intelligent women and he hadn't fooled them long. "Queen Elsa has it mostly right. I'll be thirty six next spring." He conceded.

Kristoph was stunned. "How? Does white hair run like blond in your family?"

Earl Georg sighed. "No. It does not. Remember that I said I was cursed. It's a side effect of the fire curse that was placed on me by the witch." He took a sip of his wine. "I suspect that I will not see two more winters before the end."

He smiled sadly at his stunned dinner companions. "Fire curses consume the victim and age him or her far beyond their times." He looked over at Elsa. "Consider yourself lucky that you were born with the powers of the cold, Queen Elsa, as it preserves. If your powers had been fire you would not be here now."

She looked deep once more into his eyes, seeing pain and something which they had in common which called to her intensely. She realized that what she was seeing were the shadows of his internal storm and they were calling to the one that resided inside herself and it was answering. She looked away as she asked. "Is there no cure?"

"For a curse? Sadly, none that I'm aware of, but there's an even worse side effect. The witch can accelerate the aging anytime she so chooses." He shrugged. "In essence I live only at her pleasure."

Kristoff frowned. "Does that mean you're her servant?"

Georg felt anger rising as the wine in the glass in his hands began to boil. "It means, young man, that I'm going to die a lot quicker if she ever tries to order me around! Because of her I lost my beloved Freya. I will not let her use me to hurt others. I will die first."

He could see the deep sympathy in Elsa's eyes in response. She would understand about power and responsibility more than anyone else as her internal conflict between them had nearly killed her and her sister.

Kristoff abruptly asked. "Did the witch kill Freya, your wife?" He got another dig with an elbow from Anna for his pains.

Georg sighed. It was here and could not be avoided as much as he might wish it. He knew his curse was part of why they'd wanted to talk to him. "No. I did."

Anna gasped and Elsa stared intently at him. The Queen frowned, reading the clues plainly expressed in his emotions. "There's much more to it than that, isn't there?"

He nodded, hoping he could get through the tale. "Let me tell you what happened. But I warn you it is not a story with an ending where everyone lives happily ever after."

"It started out happily as Freya, a beautiful and highly intelligent woman, agreed to be my wife. Soon after our marriage I was made an earl and given responsibility for ten of the Southern Isles, and then Freya made my happiness complete when she informed me she was pregnant with our daughter." He looked down at his intertwined fingers. "It was too good to last."

"Her pregnancy did not go well and at five months she developed a fever that the doctors were helpless to stop. I was told that I had to sit there and watch helplessly while my beloved wasted away. This I refused to do."

"That's when you went to the witch." Kristoff declared. He got a look from Anna. He shrugged. "It's what I might have done to save you." She reached over and squeezed his hand.

"Yes. It's what I did. Lisbet the witch agreed to save Freya in return for a service by me, but there was an additional cost." He put his head in his hands and sobbed. "We lost our unborn daughter."

Anna sought out and gripped Kristoff's hands tightly in her own. Her sister found herself reaching out a hand towards the sobbing man and then slowly dropped it on the table as she struggled to regain control of her emotions. "I'm so sorry." She told him and he could hear that she meant every word.

He looked up at her with reddened eyes. "Unfortunately there was worse to come. Two months later Lisbet returned and called in the final obligation I owed her."

"She came to our house that night and ordered me to follow her and leave Freya who appeared to be sleeping. At that time the heir apparent to the throne, Prince Karl, was guesting with us and she led me directly to his rooms."

"I never found out what grudge she held against him as she never told me, but she gestured and turned me into a being of fire and ordered me to attack."

He looked pleadingly into Elsa's eyes. "I had never before felt anything like the storm she set off inside me that night. I lost all control. I became the fire as I sent flames running up the walls and across the floors and went stalking through the chambers totally consumed by the storm within."

"The storm." Elsa said softly with a haunted look to her eyes. "The storm that rages inside you, consumes you and is beyond your control. The fear, the hate, the joy, the exhilaration." Cold air began to move. She shuddered. "I know it all too well. I was saved only because my sister loved me enough to sacrifice herself for me."

He shivered with remembered horror. "As did my Freya. One moment I was stalking the Prince and in the next she was standing in front of me, shielding the Prince from my flames and pleading for me to stop if I loved her." He put his head in his hands. "I came to my senses but it was too late. I could not call back the wall of fire I'd unleashed and poor Freya." He began to sob. "Was dead because of me." His whole body shook with his pain.

This time Elsa didn't hesitate as her own emotions surged in response to his pain and she could not control herself. She got up and put her arms around the distraught man and held him to her while she stroked his head. "You poor man, you learned like I did that love was the key but you learned it too late and you paid a terrible price for that knowledge."

And as she held him, for the first time since Freya's horrible ending he actually found comfort in another's arms. He knew this was no diplomatic ploy. All of Elsa's emotions were at the surface in her newly awakened state and very visible for anyone to see. She really cared. For him at that moment she ceased being just the Queen of Arendelle and became someone he also cared about. And for the first time in months he felt the burning storm inside him subside. Somehow her touch was giving him peace.

Anna was sobbing in Kristoff's arms. "Oh, Kristoff, there was no miracle for him unlike there was for me when I saved Elsa."

He nodded and held her close to him, glad there had been that miracle.

Slowly Georg's sobs died away. He raised his head. "Queen Elsa, I did not mean for.."

She shushed him with a finger to his lips. "Never apologize for loving someone so much. Believe me after my experiences I completely understand and what is a queen for if she cannot be a woman and give comfort when it's needed?" Inside she felt her own storm subside and realized that for the first time in years she could think clearly. The inner howling of the storm was finally silenced. She held him until she was sure he was back in control and then she reluctantly retreated back to her chair but her eyes kept following his and his never left hers.

Lisbet the witch smiled as she watched this sickingly charming scene in her crystal. She had just known that this little rebellious fool Georg would lead her to new prey and if he started caring again would only make himself more vulnerable. It was almost beyond belief that he'd led her to the two that she wanted revenge on the most.

She smiled gleefully at her reflection in the crystal and noted her beauty was in full force from her spells. If she asked some stupid magic mirror it would tell her she was the most beautiful woman in the world and it wouldn't be lying. What was the use of having near-infinite powers if you didn't use them on yourself for self-improvement?

She fluffed her red hair and decided to take a reading of power on her intended victims. She saw none in Kristoff like she'd expected. Of course Elsa was in a class all by herself but she'd proven herself to be vulnerable because she cared. That weakness could be used. She idly flicked the pointer over Anna and froze in shock. The power needle broke itself against the end of the dial. Where had this come from?

She leaned forward and studied the other redhead closely. Then she nodded. Anna was not a power source. She was an amplifier. No wonder that old troll had taken her magic and the memory of magic from her. If she'd retained those powers when Elsa had first cut loose, then it would've been the end of the world as she would've amplified Elsa's powers so much that the glaciers would've covered the planet from pole to pole to a depth of a mile. She must've gotten her powers back just as she died to save Elsa, breaking the old troll's spell on her. No wonder Prince Hans had broken his sword and been hurled backwards. Anna had siezed and then amplified Elsa's defensive powers when all Elsa had wanted to do was die.

She smiled. She knew who her next victim was going to be. A simple minded still trusting young woman who by caring for those around her would give her all the amplified power she needed to get her revenge and to rule forever. And it would be entirely fitting to use Hans against her.

She began to build the spell that would locate Hans. She had seen that he had created such disturbances in the emotions of her intended victims, predominantly hate and fear, that he would prove very useful.

She found him using her crystal. He was locked in his prison cell but he was not alone. Interesting. Maybe she could use both men.

She went to her wardrobe and opened the doors. You wouldn't find any mythical beings in here. It was only a transportation device that allowed travel back and forth between here and a place she specified. It was a unique, one of a kind device which would never be duplicated again. She began her preparations.

"Well, your royal haughtiness, how did the trial go for ya today?" Ivan the Mad asked. He was a big strong, ugly man who was here facing his own trial for attempted murder. When Hans didn't reply. He laughed so hard that his greasy black hair that spilled around his equally greasy shoulders shook like a fetid liquid. "That bad, eh?"

He leaned forward and almost touched Prince Hans on the knee. He didn't as that had led to their first and last fight. He liked the Prince. He fought dirty and to win just like he did. "That high-priced barrister aint done you any good has he?"

Prince Hans sighed. "No. He hasn't and I don't want to talk about it."

"You know what you did wrong? I mean with trying to take over that little ice cube of a country?" Ivan grinned, showing broken teeth.

"No. But I assume you're going to tell me anyway." Hans leaned resignedly back against the wall. Ivan would have his say no matter what he said.

"It's very simple, your haughtiness. You had that ice queen of theirs dead to rights. First, you stopped someone from shooting her. If he'd done so, you'd have won and no one be calling you an attempted regicide now, would they? Second, you had that Princess Anna freezing to death and you locked her in a room that someone helped her escape from. Not smart. You should've taken her coat from her and put her out in the snow to freeze in seconds. Third, you went to kill the Ice Queen in her cell and unlike the Duke's men you wanted to use a sword when a crossbow bolt through the window of her door would've finished her. Fourth strike and out, you tried to kill her with a sword again."

"How do you know so much about what I did or didn't do?" Hans growled. "I don't confide in you."

"Your shyster has a big mouth when he's talking to you in here." Ivan said with a grin.

"If you're so smart, then how come you're on trial too?" Hans said with a sneer.

Ivan shrugged. "You can't take into account that your victim survived to tattle on you. My mistake was not stabbing him twice." He smiled nastily. "I won't make the same mistake next time."

Hans got to his feet and stared out the window at the sails of the ships on the sea. "Yeah. If I got a do over, I'd do it differently and this time I'd be the last one standing instead of that moron Anna and that sappy sister of hers and hopefully I'd have something left over to get revenge on that good for nothing Earl who dared to lay hands on me."

A light flashed in a darkened corner of the room. Both stared as a door opened. A gorgeous red-hair woman in a silver dress stepped into the room with them. "I'm not a fairy godmother, but I can grant both your wishes."

"Who in blazes are you?" Hans demanded. "And how did you get in here?"

"Yeah." Ivan chimed in. "Like his haughtiness said. Who are you, babe?"

She put her hands on her hips and grinned. "I'm Lisbet the witch and I can use two gentlemen like you in my plans."

Hans snorted. "What? You plan on feeding princesses poison apples?"

Lisbet made a waving dismissal motion. "That's an old trick and princesses are too smart to fall for it. No, I plan on taking over all the kingdoms but the first one I have to take down is Arendelle."

Hans started. "Arendelle? How are you going to do that?"

"You don't think small, babe. I'll give you that." Ivan remarked.

"No, I don't and to answer your question, Prince Hans, all we have to do is kidnap Princess Anna." She grinned at him. "One of the reasons you failed was that you didn't realize how much Elsa's powers were linked to hers. By bringing them into Arendelle together you set off your own defeat."

"What are you talking about? That idiot Anna is an ordinary powerless twit." Hans made a sound of disgust.

"No, she isn't. Oh she can't generate spells but she can amplify them. With her under my control, she'll amplify my powers beyond belief. I'll be able to flatten that cow Elsa without drawing a second breath. But I won't even have to do that as I'm going to use the curse of true love and her love for Anna to make her take her own life."

Hans smiled at her. "That all sounds nice, but what's in it for me?"

"I like that question." Ivan added

Lisbet nodded. "I can see I chose wisely." She pointed a finger at the Prince. "In order to assist you in getting your revenge on Anna and Elsa as well as Georg I'll make you a temporary wizard by giving you a power amulet. After we defeat Elsa you can take over any kingdom you want, including your father's." She smiled at his greed-filled expression. "I see that I have a convert."

"Hold on, Babe. How does that help me?"

She smiled. "I have a need for a big, strong, handsome man like yourself. You get to help me break Anna down and I need someone to be my companion when I start ruling the world. Interested?"

He howled like a wolf in answer.

That night the guards in the tower were horrified to find both prisoners missing. King Lars was going to have a stroke.


	7. Olaf's Announcement

In Arendelle they had just finished the last course of dinner and were getting up when Olaf poked his head around the doorframe. "Elsa and Anna, do you have a moment?"

Elsa smiled. "For you, Olaf, always." She frowned. "Your snow is looking soft. I'll strengthen the cold." She gestured and more snow fell from the small cloud hovering over his head.

He smiled. "Thanks. That was part of what I wanted to talk to you about. You see I've just found my true love and we want your blessing." Elsa and Anna glanced at each other and shook their heads in puzzlement. True love? What was he talking about?

Kristoff grinned. "That's great, Olaf. Who's the lucky snow girl and when do we get to meet her?" He was picturing Olaf and a fat snow woman with an even uglier carrot nose dancing through the snow stick hand in stick hand.

"Right now." Olaf held his twig hand out and a fiery red hand came out and closed its fingers around it. His twig fingers began to smoke. He drew the fire woman out in the open where they could all see his pride and joy. "Everyone, I want you to meet my true love. Her name is."

"Rufina." Georg said with a smile. "I wondered where you'd gotten to."

"That's incredible. You must have mental powers." Olaf declared. He leaned over and kissed Rufina on her fiery cheek. There was a hiss of melting snow. "Her name is indeed Rufina and she's my true love."

Elsa felt she was trapped in the past again where Anna had made the same declaration about Prince Hans. Now another person whom she thought of as her child since she'd created him was asking for her blessing. "You're sure it's true love, Olaf?"

Olaf smiled. "We both think so. And since you are the nearest thing I have to a parent we want your blessing."

Rufina kissed him on the cheek, sending off a puff of steam. She looked over at Georg and said softly. "We also want yours, Father."

"Father?" Kristoff asked as the two sisters stared at Georg. "Didn't you say you had no children?"

"No human children but like Elsa I created my own. I kept remembering the daughter I'd lost and one night I awoke to find Rufina standing there." Georg came over to Rufina and kissed her on her cheek. "You have it, daughter of my heart."

She gave a shriek of joy and launched herself into his now flaming hands. He caught her and spun her around. "Be happy, daughter."

She kissed him on the forehead. "I love you, Daddy."

He put his fire out in his right hand and shook Olaf's twig hand. "I have no fear that you're love is not true and you'll not be good to her as you are Elsa's child and reflect all that is good in her."

Elsa had to smile at this and she felt something stir deep inside her.

Olaf actually blushed and held his stick arms out. Georg knelt and released Rufina who immediately ran into them and hugged Olaf sending up a cloud of steam.

A small smile played over Elsa's lips. After all this how could she refuse Olaf? "You have my blessings, Olaf."

Olaf and Rufina hugged, sending up clouds of steam. "And Olaf?" He looked up as she smiled and strengthened his cloud. "It looks like you're going to need a lot more cold, 'son'." She suppressed a giggle. Olaf, a son. Why not?

Kristoff turned to Anna. "If Olaf is Elsa's child, then what does that make Marshmallow?" She frowned and shook her head, not able to answer.

Elsa overheard and considered this for a moment. "In a way he is and I'm sorry that I forgot all about him. I'll make sure he's happy." She declared. "I'll give him my love of winter and give him my Ice Palace as his home." She raised a hand and snow swept away up the North Mountain. She had no idea that her good intentions were about to have unintended consequences.

Marshmallow was sitting quietly on the floor in the Ice Palace with Elsa's crown on the snow being's head. Ever since the crown had come to rest there, the rage had vanished. Built out of Elsa's protective fears the snow being had become quieter and gentler since putting on the crown which had so much of Elsa's essence in it.

Snow whirled around its head as Elsa's spell arrived and the crown vibrated in response and drew the magic to itself. Gently a finger of snow magic touched the crown and there was a flare of light which grew in intensity. The massive body shivered and then shrank, collapsing in on itself. Elsa's magic flowed and a new body was built from the old using the crown as a template, a crown that had been entrusted to Elsa in great ceremony and was now bonded to her. It responded in the only way that it could and transformed the spell.

A cloud of snow rose up and obstructed the view of anyone who would've been watching. When it cleared a young woman made entirely of white densely packed snow knelt there on the palace floor. She was dressed in long, flowing, blue robes. Her hair was snow white and laced together in familiar coils.

She got to her feet and gentle laughter filled the air. She slowly spun around enjoying her new freedom and as she spun the crown glittered from atop her head. Her face was now revealed and it was almost identical to Elsa's at sixteen with the same expressive blue eyes. She smiled as she surveyed her domain. "Thanks, Mom, for the wonderful gift."

She laughed again and then declared. "Like you the cold never bothers me anyway." She grinned. "Because I love cold and the winter days. They're just made for fun by the way." Then she reached for the magic. She should've been disappointed but was not. The magic Elsa had sent was now linked permanently to the crown as its home. The crown glowed as the magic responded to her will.

She raised her hands and began to sing:

"Let it out, Let it out, let it out!

Let the winds blow and shove snow about.

Grow the ice palace walls and the halls.

For freedom to me does make its calls,

Let it out, let it out, let it out!

My soul just has now its love to shout

To fly on the winds and ski the slope,

To be free in winter filled with hope.

Let every inhibition just go.

Let everything holding me vanish now.

Let it out. Let it out. Let it out!

I stand here and with my heart I shout

Let it out. Let it out. Let it out.

Let everything go, just let it out."

The snow swirled as she repaired the damage the Duke's men had done. The last thing she created was a throne with rows of ice sculptures of unsurpassed beauty of cross-country skiers, skaters, ice dancers, toboggans and their riders, luge men and women, downhill skiers and many others lining the throne room walls. She sat on her throne and liked what she saw. Elsa's latest creation, the Snow Queen, the patron of all who found winter fun, was home.

As the evening wound down Elsa found herself regretting that it was coming to an end. Not only because she had to meet the six suitors tomorrow but because she'd really enjoyed herself for once in the company of others. She felt herself drawn to the Earl. Georg's experience was very illuminating of her own issues and his past was more tragic then what had happened to her and Anna. Anna tried so hard to understand what had happened to her but never could reach the depths that he had plumbed and instinctively seemed to understand. And then there was the peace his touch brought her. She sighed, stifling a yawn. All good things had to come to an end.

Georg took the hint and bowed to her. "Thank you for an enjoyable evening, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. Queen Elsa, just send word in the morning when and how you want to proceed with the interviews."

"Will you be there, Georg?" She blushed. Damn. She was acting like a giddy teenager. "I mean I'll have questions that they might not want to answer."

He smiled at her. "I'll always be at your service, Milady."

She smiled back. Damn. What did he mean by that? "Thank you. I'll see you then." He bowed and left for his room.

There was giggle out on the balcony and a sigh from a love-sick Olaf. Anna smiled and said. "I think Olaf might need more snow."

Kristoff laughed. "I never thought of ice as a love potion. For preserving food or cooling houses, yes. But a love potion?"

"That's one to tell your family." Anna declared.

"Yeah, they're love experts. They'll have a lot to say about it." He glanced over at Elsa who was just standing there looking at the now closed door with a slight smile on her face. "They might have a lot to say about what's happening here with Elsa."

Anna frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly how many suitors or dates did she have while she was heir apparent?"

"She kept the gates shut and so she had none. The same as me." She shuddered. "That's why I made a terrible mistake and believed Hans."

Kristoff nodded. "Exactly. So she has just as much experience as you in dealing with men. Which is to say none." She glared at him.

He sighed. "It's obvious she's attracted to Earl Georg but if he's not what he seems to be, then we could all be in serious trouble. Elsa upset because she was afraid for you is one thing. Elsa enraged because she's been betrayed in love is another. It could mean winter forever."

Anna looked worriedly over at her sister who had a frown on her face and was starting to pace. "I'll talk to her."

"Good. And I think we both need to talk to the love experts when we see them next time."

Anna approached her sister. "Are you all right, Elsa?"

Elsa looked up. "Would you be, Anna? If you had to choose a husband from Hans' relatives?"

Anna shuddered, remembering the handsome and deceitful Hans. "Have you decided how you're going to handle it? The interviews I mean."

Elsa nodded. "I asked Earl Georg and he said the King had sent a biography on each one. I plan to read them in the morning and ask him questions if something seems odd and then I'll meet them as a group and see how they interact with me and each other."

Anna considered this for a moment. "That seems like a good plan that you came up with. It sounds like something Daddy would've suggested."

Elsa smiled. "Thank you, but it was suggested by Georg."

Anna became concerned. "Elsa, aren't you depending too much on someone who might not have our best interests in mind? Remember Hans fooled us both."

"I don't think so." Elsa put a hand on her sister's elbow. "I'm not completely naïve, Anna, and you have to remember that Mom and Dad trained me to be Queen. And part of that training was on the gathering of information.

I had the Seneschal send some servants out to do some checking for me at the taverns by the wharves. One of the questions I wanted answered was why did the King of the Southern Isles send this one man to be the ambassador. Why not someone more senior?"

"The answer that the sailors gave was that the Earl was the King's personal choice and the Earl had at first refused to come and then the King had somehow persuaded him. The speculation was that he needed someone who was as ready to die as the Earl was and who could be sacrificed if I took it badly and that with his curse he still might survive better than anyone else."

She sighed. "They were right. I did lose it for a minute this afternoon and if he hadn't shocked me back to my senses, I might have started a war between our two kingdoms."

Anna nodded. "You scared me badly yesterday, Elsa. It was like the fear was controlling you again."

"Well, it's not anymore." She heard a giggle from out on the balcony and smiled. "I trust Olaf absolutely and if he thought there was even the tiniest bit of deceit in Georg's daughter Rufina he wouldn't be acting like he is. So I guess I'll trust Georg until he proves himself false, if he ever does."

"Maybe that's why they sent him." Anna declared. "He has an affliction similar to yours and they figured you could relate more to him than anyone else."

Elsa patted her sister's arm. "If that's the case than Hans' father is as every bit as manipulative as Hans which agrees with what the spy net tells me. It also tells me that he's much more honorable than his son Hans. But for whatever reason they sent Georg, I'm glad they did."

Anna frowned. "Elsa, you do remember that Kristoff and I had promised his family to visit them tomorrow and show them my engagement ring?" She held up her hand so that the large diamond, an inheritance from her mother, glinted from its gold band on her finger.

"And you're wondering if you should postpone it with the suitors arriving tomorrow? Anna, you may not believe it but I ran the kingdom successfully for three months after the regent Duke Grey passed on. I think I can handle it for a day without your help. Go and have fun."

"I'm not sure." Anna ventured.

"Well I am. There's not much you could do to help me if you stayed, but I do appreciate the offer and the spirit behind it. Now you go and I'll discuss what happened with you as soon as you're back." She kissed her sister on her cheek. "Good night, Anna, we both have a busy day tomorrow."


	8. The Suitors Come Calling

Earl Georg rose early and got the biographies out of their protective cases. As he sat in the chair and read them he gestured and started the logs in the fireplace burning as it was cool in here. As he read he became more and more concerned. They were the worst biographies ever written. They made each man look like a dolt. What was the King up to? And since he'd not been a regular attendant at the court he really couldn't add much to them.

He hurriedly wrote Elsa a note of apology and sent the biographies on their way. How was poor Elsa going to be able to make an intelligent choice based on this dribble? He saw disaster looming.

Elsa arose the next morning and found the fear rising again. Not the fear that she might hurt her friends, especially Anna, but anxiety over the coming interviews with the suitors. Out of these six men she had to choose one that was to be her husband for the rest of her life. What if she chose wrong? She'd be miserable for the rest of her life.

As she breakfasted the Seneschal put a stack of papers on a small table in front of her. "Your Majesty, Earl Georg sent the biographies as requested and he says you may call for him to attend you whenever you desire."

She felt a chuckle rising. What woman wouldn't appreciate that? She quickly suppressed it. "Thank you." He bowed and left. She picked up the first paper and began to read while she bit off and chewed on her piece of toast and jam.

The first paper she read was his handwritten apology that the biographies were so bad. His King had told him not to open them until he gave them to her but he'd checked anyway and he thought the King was mad to insult her so. He apologized at least twice more. This whetted her appetite and she began to read.

An hour later she felt she knew these six brother of Hans well and all she could do was shake her head in amazement. What was the problem with the Kingdom of the Southern Isles if these were the best they had? And if they weren't, what was their king up to in putting them forth? After reading their qualifications she could only see them as ordinary at the best. Was this a joke?

She sighed. If it was, it was on her. She supposed she could demand others. Certainly Hans had other unmarried brothers or even cousins? She shuddered. If they were anything like Hans then no wonder the king hadn't sent one of them. Why couldn't they have been like the Earl?

She found herself remembering him and his kindness and the love he'd expressed for Rufina. He was certainly far more than just some stuffy old ambassador. She sighed and thought of his wonderful expressive eyes and the feeling of peace that came over her when they touched.

She shook herself. "Stop it." She told herself. "You're acting like Anna at the coronation."

But still she had to admit he was affecting her. Out of curiosity she went to her bookshelf and got down a peerage book which she'd used four months ago just before her coronation so that she would be familiar with the backgrounds of her royal visitors. She paged through it to the section on the House of the Southern Isles. She read and turned a couple of pages before she found what she was looking for. Earl Georg was indeed there.

She read further and saw everything he'd told her was there and none of it contradicted what he'd said about being married or cursed. His life was the perfect picture of the tragic hero who struggled to do right and had suffered for it. Just like she'd suffered trying to do right and protect Anna. They had so much in common

She gently shut the book and called for her maids. She had to get ready for the choosing.

The rest of the morning passed too quickly and then the time had come to meet her suitors. The audience room was the main throne room which she'd denied Georg the first time he'd called on her and then she'd made him wait out of spite. She truly regretted that petty action. He hadn't deserved it.

Seated on the throne she glanced over at the Earl who was standing on the opposite side from the seneschal so she could consult with him. He gave her a nod and then hidden from view of the audience a thumbs up, saying you'll do fine. She found herself giving him a small smile.

She noted Anna's empty throne. She and Kristof had left at first light. To her surprise Olaf and Rufina had tagged along. She would've bet anything that Olaf wanted to show Rufina off to the trolls.

She smiled inside. Someday she had to meet those troll characters again. The last time she'd seen them she'd been nearly nine and she'd been so afraid for Anna, and then Grandpeppy had scared her even more without meaning too. From what Anna and Kristoff had told her the trolls were nothing like her first impression of them.

She nodded to Kai, the seneschal, that she was ready.

The seneschal made a come in motion to one of the guards at the doors. The guard pulled the doors wide. She swallowed. It had begun.

The doors swung open to reveal six men who were each introduced to her. She forgot their names as soon as the seneschal droned them out. Her first impression was one of shape. One was very tall, another was very small, a third was rolly polly, a fourth was fat, a fifth was thin and a snappy dresser, and the sixth was beautiful, muscled and built like a wedge with a brain about as big as the tip of the wedge if his biography could be believed.

As they stood there expectantly she nodded to them and then asked. "Tell me, why should I choose one of you?"

The song, Choose me, choose me, choose me to love, begins to play

All: "Choose me, choose me, choose me to love"

The beautiful one sings: "Please choose me. You will do no wrong

"Choose me for I am big and strong.

Gaze on my good looks and physique."

The thin one chimes in: "He loves himself. That makes me sick."

"Please choose me. I'm not pretty,

But I am so bright and witty."

Rolly Polly chimes in: "And he's boring and a twity."

"Please choose me. I'm a great cook."

"I am so very good. See how I look."

"Food and I just get along well."

The small one sings: "He'll make your life a very hell."

"Please choose me. Inside I'm tall."

"I have brains. Looks are not all."

"I can write you a pretty sonnet."

The tall one chimes in: "If you like poems of bees and bonnets."

"Please choose me. As I so stand out."

"I have brains. I'm not some lout."

"With me you'll never will be lost."

The fat one chimes in: "Because he looks like a tall post."

"Please choose me as I'll work hard."

"I'm really no tub of lard."

"Choose me. Choose me. Choose me to love."

All: "Choose me. Choose me. Choose me to love."

The whole proceeding turned into a melee of struggling and shouting singers repeating their lines over and over. It finally ended up with Strong and Handsome on the top of the pile shouting. "Choose me to love!" He was greeted by absolute silence. They all stared at an empty throne. With a gesture of disgust Elsa had left the room.

Elsa strode down the hallway muttering angrily to herself. "Self-important fools. I should just freeze the lot." She turned into a small room and sagged against the wall and rubbed her hand across her aching head. "They're my choices?" She looked up. "What have I done to deserve this? All I want is love. Is that too much to ask?"

The question drew her back to the same question she'd asked when she was fourteen and huddled in her room, struggling to control and hide her powers to protect those she loved but love and its needs had come to her as it did to all fourteen year olds and she then had to cope with those demands too. It had made the struggle worse as she had realized that she was never going to have love.

She'd found a way to cope like all fourteen year-olds usually do. She'd fanaticized.

In her fantasy it was not the knight who was doing the rescuing, but her going to his rescue with her powers of winter. In her dreams she always defeated the dragon and saved the knight but when he lifted his visor to kiss her with true love she could never see his face. His helmet was empty. She had no image of a hero that she could put there.

She shook her head. The fantasies of teenagers.

She didn't see an invisible Prince Hans watching her and participating through magic in her personal fantasy.

He grinned maliciously. This was perfect. The witch wanted Elsa to fall in love and he'd deliver it. Since Elsa only had snow magic, she had little defense against what he was about to unleash on her. She was about to relive her fantasy but with a twist.

Abruptly Elsa found herself back in her fantasy but she was no longer fourteen. Before she could react she heard the sounds of battle ahead of her. She pushed through the bushes and came on the scene from her dream. A large red dragon breathing fire was battling a knight in shining armor by sending blasts of flame at its opponent but its back was to her and she could not see its face.

The knight raised his sword and hurled it at the dragon who screamed in pain and fell to the ground with the sword buried in its chest. The knight advanced on the fallen dragon and jerked the sword out of it. He stepped back to raise the sword for the finishing blow.

The dragon weakly turned his head to look at her. "Help me, Elsa, my love, help me." The voice was Georg's.

The knight noticed her, bowed, straightened, and then opened his visor. "I will dance like a head cutoff chicken and a broken bumblebee and slay the sorcerer for you, Milady." It was the Duke of Weselton.

She screamed and then her winter winds blasted the Duke away. The next thing she knew she was cuddling the hurt dragon's head in her lap and weeping. "I finally know how the fantasy ends." She whispered and kissed him on his snout.

Prince Hans turned away gagging. This was so sentimental he was going to barf. He looked up as a hurrying figure approached. Right on time.

"Queen Elsa." She blinked. Her fantasy was gone. She looked over towards the door and saw Earl Georg who had just entered standing there with a look of concern for her on his face.

"I'm so sorry you had to experience that disgraceful exhibition back there. I had no idea they were all so immature." He knelt. "I apologize for having insulted you so."

She came away from the wall to look closer at him and felt her heart pounding. "You haven't insulted me." She said softly.

"But the suitors?"

She grimaced and then chuckled. "Well, they may have." And then she smiled feeling long-buried emotions rising. "But you haven't." She offered her hand. "Please get up."

He took her hand and as he rose he felt something shoot through him which shook him to his core. His internal storm vanished and all that remained at first was peace and then something new began to fill the void: longing, desire, admiration, and love all of which were centered on the soul of this marvelous woman. Her other hand grasped his free one. They stared at each other still holding hands and he felt he was drowning in those marvelous eyes.

He had to stop. This couldn't happen. He broke off the contact and started to step back but she followed him.

She softly and with deep feeling repeated the altered lines of the song. "Choose me, choose me, choose me to love."

All during this song he tries to break off the contact but she follows, sometimes coming in another door as she knew the palace better than he ever could or he would run into a room and find her already there as she sings:

"Choose me, choose me, choose me to love.

My heart wants to soar up above.

I have been so alone so long.

I tried to be so very, very strong,

But as witnessed by God above

I can no longer be without love.

Kiss me and thaw my frozen heart.

And let us never be apart.

Choose me, choose me, choose me to love.

My heart wants to soar high above.

Kiss me and thaw my frozen heart.

I shall with love unthaw your heart

And we two will make a new start.

Choose me, choose me, choose me to love."

She finally cornered him in the rose garden where fountains with cupids in them play soft water music. There are no exits.

She put her arms around him and embraced him. "I've made my choice as chooser. I choose you to love." She whispered.

He felt his heart pounding. "Queen Elsa, you have to select one of the suitors."

She reached up a hand and gently stroked his cheek. "No, I don't. I'm the one doing the choosing and any eligible male from the Royal House of the Southern Isles can be selected by me. I checked the peerage and you are of the Southern Isle bloodlines and are eligible. So that's exactly what I'm doing. I choose you for me to love and to be loved by you."

"Please don't do this, Elsa." He protested. "You're making a horrible mistake as I'll be dead in two years." He had no fear that she was doing this as a ploy to have a short marriage as there was too much love in her eyes for him.

She looked at him and smiled. "I know you love me but your heart is locked by fear for me." He started to protest weakly, but she touched a finger to his lips. "I'm an expert at hiding love due to fear and I know all the signs. You love me but want to spare me the pain of losing you. Well this time I choose and I choose to accept the pain along with the joy."

She said softly. "Kiss me and tell me you love me." She begins to sing as they draw closer together. And during the song he seems to see Freya but by the end of the song Freya's image is blowing him a goodbye kiss and fading away.

"Kiss me and tell me you love me.

With your kiss I'll finally be free.

With your love the sun will melt

the cold ice prison where I dwelt.

Fear has bound me for so very long.

With you by me I'll be strong.

With your kiss the sun will shine long

And the snow and ice will be gone.

Kiss me and tell me you love me

And set the frozen lover free.

I've been a prisoner too long,

Please make the snow and ice be gone.

Free this frozen heart from exile

And dwell with me a long sweet while.

Kiss me and say you do love me

And set my poor frozen heart free."

He felt the chains around his own heart melt and he cupped her face in his hands.

"I choose you to love and to love me.

I so need your love to set me free

Of the chains that have bound my fire.

A fire that screams you are my desire.

Like you I lived behind a wall

Which hid my feelings from all.

Now you came and felled the great wall.

And I promise to you with all my heart

Together we two will have a new start.

I declare since you have set me free

I choose you to love and to love me.

He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her and felt her lips answer him and knew that in his last years he had found true love. Their arms tightened around each other as they became lost in a world where only the two of them existed.

They didn't see the seneschal, who had been following, smile and then quietly shut the door to the garden. Slowly the light faded on two who needed love so much and had finally found it.

Hans who was invisible watched them fade out. "How sweet. How loving. How sickening." He stuck his finger in his mouth as if he were trying to vomit up something disgusting. He hurried after the seneschal. It was time to start making trouble. True love was so revolting.

He hurried along and gestured to mesmerize Kai. He then said softly. "The Queen will be very happy if you repeat what I'm about to say." Kai nodded blurry eyed. When the seneschal left with his lines intact Hans laughed out loud. "I just love making trouble, especially for that snow cow."

He straightened his coat lapels and smiled. "Now for some fun with my intended, Anna. It's time to use the wardrobe." He vanished.


	9. Hans' Revenge Begins

"It's Kristoff and his girl." One of the trolls shouted, setting off bedlam. And when she showed them the ring with its big stone, they went ecstatic. Sven bounced around with them and several used him as a vaulting horse.

During the shouting and singing the troll with the book asked hopefully. "Are you here to be hitched trollfully?

"Not yet, but soon and you can do the ceremony." She said with a smile.

"Wait a minute." Kristoff protested. "I just realized that means we'll have to have two ceremonies, one in Arendelle and one here."

She stretched up and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't complain as that means you get two wedding kisses." He blushed.

One of the trolls nudged his buddy. "And two wedding nights." Kristoff blushed even more and Anna laughed.

Olaf and Rufina stood there holding hands un-noticed in the excitement until Rufina said. "You told me they were trolls, but I didn't believe it."

All the eyes turned to look; they all click blinked at the same time as they all stared.

They were instantly surrounded. "Olaf's got a girl." One declared. There was loud cheering.

One touched her and there was a hiss. He smiled. "And she's really, really hot."

"No problem." A female troll declared. "We're rock trolls." She examined Rufina's hand. "No ring yet, honey?"

Rufina flashed even redder. "That's one reason we're here." She looked over with affection at Olaf. "He said you had the most beautiful fire crystals, right beloved?"

"Sure. Sure. Right. Right. I mean yes." Olaf stuttered.

One troll declared. "Oh, he's got it bad."

Several of the trolls shouted. "Do we have fire crystals?"

The shout in response from all was. "Hell, yes." And fire crystals bombarded the happy couple until they were buried knee deep.

Rufina knelt and let them run through her fingers. "They're all so lovely. I can't choose."

Olaf stared at the red crystals in her hands. They all looked the same to him.

One of the trolls shouted. "Grandmommy is here."

Another troll remarked. "How long was she visiting her mother? Fifteen years?"

"For you, my dear." Grandmommy troll who was the female version of Grandpeppy with longer hair declared. "A special stone." She held up a gold and white crystal that as it touched Rufina's fingers burst into light as bright as the sun. "For you, my child, only a true sun stone will do."

"OOOOHHHH." All the trolls breathed out.

While all the trolls were gathered around congratulating the happy couple, Anna and Kristoff stood there ignored for once while Sven rolled on his back. "This is strange." Kristoff declared.

She smiled at him. You just miss being the center of attention."

"No. I don't."

"Hello, Anna." A familiar voice said. They looked down and saw Grandpeppy. "I'm glad you figured out what I meant about an act of true love."

She knelt. "Thank you, Grandpeppy." She kissed him and he started.

He reached out a finger and touched her cheek. "Child, I just felt your magic. One instant there and then gone."

"What magic? What are you talking about?" Kristoff demanded. "Anna doesn't have any magic. She's ordinary." She looked intently at him and then smiled when he said. "I mean she's magical to me."

"Good save." She murmured. "Better than Hans did."

Grandpeppy took her hands. "Anna, when you were little, your parents brought you here because your sister accidentally hurt you. At that time to save you I removed all magic and memories of magic from you." He shook his head. "I apparently failed as your magic is now returning just as it did when you saved your sister's life."

"What do you mean? I saved her by sacrificing myself." Anna protested in confusion.

"In an act of true love. That you did. But that would not have prevented Hans from shattering you and killing Elsa with his sword. Instead in a desperate attempt to save her you unconsciously activated your latent magic and it amplified grief-weakened Elsa's powers so that they became strong enough to freeze and shatter steel and blow your attacker unconscious."

"What are you saying?" Kristoff asked as he put an arm around Anna's shoulders.

"Kristoff, what I'm saying is that Anna is a power amplifier. If someone uses magic around her she can increase its effect more than a thousand times. She doesn't have conscious control of it yet but when she does she will be able to amplify any magic she encounters. It was one of the reasons I removed the magic from her. Elsa was going to have enough trouble without Anna making her powers stronger. Arendelle would've been destroyed."

Anna threw her hands to her mouth. "No! Not me too!" She turned and ran.

"Anna!" Kristoff called.

She turned back for a moment. "I need to be alone for a minute. Please, understand, Kristoff." She turned and ran back to the entrance.

"Go with her, Sven." He ordered. The reindeer nodded and hastened after her.

Kristoff turned back to Grandpeppy. "Well, can't you just take it away again?"

"I cannot. She's too old for me to do that trick again. She must learn to control it, especially when she's around Elsa. The two will have to learn to work together."

"Can you teach her?"

"I can give her guidance but like Elsa she'll have to learn control."

"Oh, that really worked well last time." Kristoff grouched.

"That was not my fault. Elsa's parents allowed their own fears for her safety to control them and went too far. This time I do what I should've done for Elsa. I'll train her myself."

"Thank you, Grandpeppy." He said and laid his hand on the old troll's shoulder in a gesture of respect.

"Give her a few minutes and go to her, my son."

Olaf and Rufina had seen Anna run by and then a short time later she was followed by Sven. Olaf frowned. "We'd better go see what's wrong." Rufina took his twig hand and they hastened after Sven as the trolls waved at them.

Anna was staring at her hands in disbelief. She could do magic? And now she'd have to learn to control it or she could magnify the destruction caused by her sister to terrible proportions. For the first time she understood why her sister had been so afraid and wanted to hide. "What am I going to do, Sven?" She whispered.

"Why live happily ever after of course." A horribly familiar voice said.

She looked up in disbelief at the man lying on his side on a ledge just above her, smiling at her with his all too familiar smile, and dressed just as she'd last seen him. "Hans?" Beside her Sven pawed the ground in rage.

"Let's take care of you first, venison burgers." Hans gestured and Sven shimmered and became a toy deer which fell over on its side. He smiled at a shocked Anna. "It helps to have witches in high places. Now back to happily ever after."

He grinned and hopped down, landing on his feet in front of her, causing her to step back a step. He straightened his jacket and smiled at her again. "Actually, I'm the one going to live happily ever after. If you're lucky the witch will let you have some sort of life along with a few scraps of moldy bread." He shrugged. "Makes no difference to me. I'm just happy to be out of that dreadful prison you had me put in."

"I didn't put you in prison, you put yourself there." She snarled. She swung around to run.

"You did it with your damn magic and you know it." He growled as he grabbed her elbow and spun her back up against his chest. "Just like old times isn't it?"

She spat in his face. He wiped it away with a handkerchief. "Yes sir. Just like old times."

"Anna, are you all right?" Olaf asked behind her.

Hans grinned. "The interfering snowman and his little fire Pixie. I've got a present for you." He raised his hand and a ball of fire slammed into Olaf who vanished in a puff of steam as Anna gasped in horror.

"Olaf!" Rufina screamed and then she burst into roaring flames. "I'll kill you!"

Hans blew imaginary smoke off his fingertips. "No, you won't, Pixie. You'll do exactly as I tell you or your so-called father ages his full life allotment in three minutes." He squeezed Anna's shoulder with magic and caused her to slump unconscious. "What'll it be, Pixie? I've killed your boyfriend and I can make it two out of two with your father." She flared even hotter and then slumped. He grinned. "I thought so."

A few minutes later Kristoff came to check on Anna and he saw a glowing red Rufina apparently holding an unconscious Anna in a sling and flying off to the west. He did not see Hans who was really doing the major magic lifting but was now invisible. "Anna!" He screamed. Hans gestured.

There was a swirl of released magic and Sven reappeared. "Sven." He hugged the reindeer who grunted back and then tore away to put his nose to a puddle on the ground. "What is it, Sven?"

He gasped as he saw the puddle with the carrot and three pieces of coal. "Olaf!" He scooped up the pieces, tucked them in his pocket, grabbed Sven's neck and hurled himself onto his back. "We've got to tell Elsa, Sven. We've been betrayed." They charged down the mountain.

He didn't see Grandpeppy wave for him to halt or even hear his shout. "Kristoff, stop!"

"Kristoff is acting like a fool." Growled the troll elder. He drew a breath and then wrinkled his nose in disgust. "This is not fire magic." He declared. "It stinks of the witch. She's gone too far this time, attacking our guests and kidnapping Anna."

The trolls stared at each other with shock on their faces. One asked plaintively. "What can we do?"

Grandpeppy stepped up with Grandmommy beside him. "I tell you what we're going to do. We caused all this by isolating ourselves from our human friends and we're going to make it right."

"What're we going to do?" They all shouted.

"We're going to act. We're going to take out this witch and save our friends." Grandmommy shouted. "We're going to war!"

"War! War! War!" Shouted the trolls. "The witch will fall! Now the witch will fall!"

"But first." Grandpeppy knelt by the puddle and studied it intently. "I thought as much. Elsa's magic is strong. Olaf is still with us." He pointed at a small snowman who was squeaking at them. He held out his hand and Olaf hopped up on it.

A small cloud hovered over the snowman's head as he squeaked out. "We've got to save Rufina and Anna."

"And we will, son." The elderly troll rose and commanded. "Get out the fire crystals. We go to war."

The trolls all began to chant:

"War, to war, to war, to war, to war,

"We go to war. Now we go to war.

We may not be tall. We may be small.

But with our fire we take down any wall.

We are slow in the extreme to anger.

Hurt our friend? We will go revenge her.

Anger us not as our rage burns hot

And the witch will come to rue her lot.

The witch will fall. Now the witch will fall.

We go to war. Now we go to war.

The witch will fall. Now the witch will fall.

A river of grey hissing lizards as tall as three trolls and bearing six-foot-long fire crystals poured out of the caves and the trolls marched west cradling long red crystals in their arms and singing and stomping so loud it shook the ground.


	10. The Witch's Prisoner

Anna was unsure where she was when she started to regain consciousness. Everything looked blurry to her.

"Aw, does sleeping beauty need a little kiss to wake her up?" Someone kissed her on the lips and as her vision cleared and she saw who it was, she tried to leap back in revulsion but was brought up short by a chain around her waist. It was Prince Hans. He grinned at her. "Lucky you. I finally gave you that kiss you wanted so badly from me."

"Come over here and I'll give you a kiss to remember." She snarled as she tugged on the chain. It didn't move.

"Thank you, but I'll pass for now." He grinned. "But I have someone who will be glad to take all the kisses you can give him."

He stepped back to reveal Ivan, standing there drooling at her. Ivan declared. "I like babes that fight. It makes what happens later more fun."

"They don't call him Ivan the Mad for nothing." Hans proclaimed. "I think I'll watch while you two play."

"No you won't." A woman's voice proclaimed behind him. He was shoved aside and one of the most beautiful women Anna had ever seen swayed into view. She had long, flowing red hair and every curve was revealed in a slinky silver dress that clung to her every contour.

She caressed Prince Hans on the cheek. "You handsome, have to step through the wardrobe and go to the palace in Arendelle and set things in motion to destroy Queen Elsa." She smiled at Anna and there was no warmth in it. "I have an announcement you should enjoy. Your sister has found her true love." Anna gasped and stared at her. The witch mockingly said. "She and Georg are so much in love and so very happy."

"Well good for them." Anna declared.

"Actually it's good for me, you spoiled little brat." The witch retorted. "The better for us to kill your cow of a sister."

"You take on Elsa and you'll lose." Anna snarled back.

The woman smiled. "I gave your former lover Prince Hans an amulet with some magic powers and he's going to turn that love to hate. A war between fire and ice." She grinned maliciously. "Won't that be nice? Your sister and Georg are living on borrowed time and the loan is coming due. But don't worry as you won't be lonely." She gestured at Ivan who drooled at Anna and fingered his knife blade.

Lisbet growled at Hans. "What are you waiting for? Go and kill them now."

Anna gasped. "No!"

"Oh yes." Prince Hans smiled at her. "It'll give me a great deal of pleasure to make Elsa suffer for sending me back home in disgrace for such a little reason."

"You tried to kill us." Anna snarled at him.

"As I said, such a little reason." He pulled his gloves on. "I'd love to stay and see you suffer but fun calls me." He waved over his departing shoulder. "Enjoy yourself until I get back." The door shut behind him. A moment later there was a rumble as he stepped through the wardrobe.

Anna tugged at her chains and found they were locked tightly around her waist. She glared at the woman. "Who are you and why are you doing this to us?"

The woman made a little mock bow. "I'm Lisbet. Some have called me a witch because I have powers. As if any woman who has more powers than men is somehow evil. I hear that they even called your sister a sorceress when she first showed her powers."

She suddenly snarled. "Your sister. How I hate her. She got all the help, love, and encouragement she needed when she displayed her powers, but when I displayed mine we were driven away." She turned and looked out the window caught up in the past. "When my older brother Eric took me to the palace seeking help, he foolishly thought that such a loving king and queen who were so concerned about a daughter rumored to do snow magic would certainly help his poor afflicted sister."

"Instead of being helped, we were ordered to leave at spear point by the guards. They denied that Princess Elsa had any magic and that the gates were being closed until further notice. The doors were literally slammed in our faces and we were left to get along as best as we could."

Anna had never thought much beyond how the enforced seclusion of the castle was affecting herself. She'd not given any consideration to those who lived outside the closed gates and now she could see that some of the effects hadn't been pretty. By isolating their daughters her father and mother had also locked out people who had needed their help with unintended consequences. She was afraid that her parents had deliberately chosen to keep others who could do magic away from Elsa and that the guard's orders had really come from her father and mother.

Lisbet gripped her hands so hard that they went white. "Eric died trying to protect me and to this day I can still see his blood-soaked body. And they took me to what they considered a proper place for a grieving twelve year old who claimed that she could do magic. They took me to the madhouse."

Anna quailed. A madhouse? That was no place for a child. She could see herself at twelve locked in a room with gibbering and howling adults. No wonder Lisbet was insane.

Lisbet continued. "There I met mad, old Granny Goodnight, who knew some witch lore and she initiated me into the covens. And I've never looked back." She stared stonily at Anna. "I tell you this not to elicit sympathy but so that you will know why I hate your family so much."

Anna decided she had nothing to lose. "And is that why you hate the First Prince of the Southern Isles so much that you wanted him burned alive?"

"I see Georg has a big mouth. If he wasn't going to die in combat with your sister I'd have to make him suffer for that." Lisbet declared. "No. It's an entirely personal reason involving promises to wed not kept because I was a common woman as if you, a princess, could ever understand that."

"I understand more than you might think." Anna replied. "There are certain things all women have in common."

"Well, I don't." Lisbet declared. "If you're referring to caring, love, and things of the heart. I am done with that as it makes you weak just like the little idiot Rufina who's sitting in the glass lamp box above you."

Anna looked up and Rufina sadly looked back at her from her cage. "Oh, Rufina." She said sorrowfully.

Lisbet chuckled. "She deserves no pity. In order to protect her father from my wrath she does everything I order her to do. She's now my slave."

She leaned forward. "What I want from you is your power amplification so that no one in the world will overcome me again."

"I can't control it and even if I could I'd not let you use it." Anna retorted.

Lisbet smiled. "Let's see how you feel about that after Ivan gets done with you." Ivan grinned as Anna shrank back.

Lisbet turned away. "I've wasted enough time on you. Ivan, entertain her, but leave her mind intact." She opened the door and turned back to Anna. "Whenever you're ready to cooperate just let me know. And by the way Hans is going to show Kristoff you're dead. So no true love will be riding to your rescue this time. There is no help for you, Princess." The door shut with a slam as Ivan stepped forward.

Lisbet had no idea how wrong she was.

In the Ice Palace the Snow Queen looked up with a frown at the shouts coming from the valley below and echoing off the mountain walls. What were her close neighbors the trolls up to? She'd better check this out. She gestured and cross-country skis appeared on her feet. She pulled goggles over her eyes and dug her poles into the snow.

With a blast of snow swirling behind her she shot down the mountainside, easily jumping small and large crevasses and then taking the moguls like an expert. She came to a cliff hundreds of feet high and didn't hesitate. She shot off the snow plume at its top and then sped in a skis jumper's tuck through the air.

When she gracefully landed she'd beaten the world and Olympic records by nearly a thousand meters and her form would've earned her a perfect 10. She sent packs of reindeer running in all directions as she sped through the valley. Ahead of her the snow ended.

She grinned and flicked one finger and a snow lane formed ahead of her down the mountain. She shot down it and as she did so she threw back her head back and shouted her joy to the world. Life in winter was for her worth living to the hilt.

She saw the line of marching trolls and sped to the front where she braked in a graceful curve throwing snow so that it landed just in front of the lead trolls. She slid her goggles down and smiled at them.

The trolls all stared and blinked. Grandpeppy pushed his way to the front followed by Grandmommy. "Elsa?" He got a shake of a head in answer.

Grandmommy stepped up beside him. "You're Elsa but you're not at the same time. You're her daughter." She got a radiant smile in reward.

Grandpeppy frowned. "Weren't you Elsa's guardian once? Marshmallow?"

"Once, but I have a new name and a new role." Her musical voice replied. "I'm Elsa's newly created daughter and since I wear her abandoned crown and she gave me the Ice Palace I am now the Snow Queen whose coming has been foretold by you."

The trolls all looked at each other, blinked, and then went to their knees. "Snow Queen."

She chuckled. "Get up. Let's not be so formal. You're my friends." They rose and stood expectantly.

She looked over them, taking in their weapons and the puffing lizards loaded down with the red crystals. "You're marching to war." It was not a question but a statement. "Who do you make war on?"

Grandmommy spat to the side. "The evil witch, Lisbet. She used the evil prince Hans imbued with her foul magic to kidnap Elsa's sister Anna, enslave Olaf's fiancé Rufina, and nearly melt Olaf to death."

Grandpeppy stepped forward and held out his hand with the small snowman. "I'm barely keeping him alive. Can you do more?"

Olaf piped up. "Please help me, Elsa. Rufina and Anna need me,"

She smiled. "I do look like Mom, don't I?" She waved a hand. "All right, Olaf, but don't make this a habit."

"Oh wow!" He exclaimed as he grew to his normal size and the cloud raining down snow reformed above his head. "I have my personal flurry back." He knelt and kissed her hand. "Thank you. Thank you."

"Do you join us in our war, Snow Queen?" Grandpeppy asked. Several of the trolls gripped their crystals tighter and growled.

She growled back. "Yes. She attacked Aunt Anna and my brother Olaf. For these evil acts alone the witch has earned war with the Snow Queen and all of the world of winter."

"We would be proud if you marched with us." Grandmommy declared. All the trolls cheered.

"I would be glad to do so, but there are things I must do first. Lay siege to the witch's walking house and do not let her escape. I'll be bringing with me the one who will destroy her and her evil minion." She slipped her goggles back on and gripped her ski poles. "Farewell until we are victorious."

She sped away down the mountainside with the cheers of the trolls ringing in the valley. They took up their crystals, flicked the reins of the snow lizards and marched on singing. "The witch will fall, now the witch will fall."

Elsa couldn't believe how completely she'd fallen in love. Inside her storm was finally quiet and all she felt was peace and happiness. They were just outside Georg's rooms and they hadn't been able to stop kissing goodbye. Each kiss became a hello and then needed another goodbye.

Finally, she knew she had to get back to being the Queen and broke off the kissing. "You are simply amazing. Whenever I hold you the storm inside me just vanishes. Is it due to our powers cancelling each other?"

He took her hand. "I believe its love. I loved you from the first day I saw you and it happened then. You made me love you so much although I wouldn't admit it at the time." He kissed her hand and then looked up. "At first I too thought it was due to the opposite effects of our powers. Fire does melt ice and ice when it melts quenches fire. But I think the real key is the love we feel for each other. Fear and anger can drive our powers but the love we feel calms them. As long as we share love, then our storms will be quiet."

She kissed his hand in turn and then stepped back as she held his hand. "I have my responsibilities as Queen but after they're done I want to take up right where we left off."

He squeezed her hand. "As do I. Until later, my love."

After leaving Georg at his quarters Elsa headed for her rooms closely followed by the seneschal. She felt like she could fly so strong were the emotions surging through her. She, who had for so many years hid out of fear, had finally taken the love into her life that she had thought an impossible dream. She wondered if anything could wipe the smile off her face. She immediately got an unwelcome answer to that question.

She turned at her door and proclaimed dreamily. "I'm in love, Kai. I'm getting married to Georg."

He bowed. "My hearty congratulations, Your Highness, and may I be the first to congratulate you on your resolution of the problem."

She frowned. "What are you talking about, Kai? What problem?"

"Why the forced marriage of course. This way by marrying a man who will be dead in two years you yourself and the kingdom will all be free in two years." He bowed. "Well played, my Queen."

She started back in shock and then rage rose to the fore. The temperature fell immediately and ice began to creep along the walls. "How dare you, Kai. How dare you call me a liar!"

He went white. "My Queen, I did not."

"Yes, you did." She said coldly and felt the storm inside her trying to get out. "I just told you I was marrying for love which is the only reason I'm marrying Georg and you dare to tell me I'm a heartless harpy planning to use him and discard him. How dare you judge me so!"

Snow burst forth and the walls turned white with frost. He was shivering both from cold and fear when he went to his knees. "Forgive me, Your Majesty."

The fear in his eyes gave her pause. She remembered all his years of faithful service and that allowed her to access the calm and draw back the ice. "You are forgiven. Never do that again."

She started to enter her rooms and then turned back to him. "Kai, I am marrying out of love, no matter what any gossips may declare. I expect to never hear these accusations again as long as I live and I expect you, my oldest friend, to see that such lies are not entertained in this castle." She shut the door. The good mood was soured and the bad seeds had been planted.

Somewhere unseen an invisible Hans smiled. "Oh, I'm having such fun manipulating these fools." He slicked his hair back. "Time for the main event."


	11. The War Begins

Grandmommy crouched down and rubbed her aching back. She was too old for this but she would not shrink from what was demanded. She looked up as two of the advance scouts came running up. "Is the walking house still in the valley?"

"Yes." One of the trolls wearing a rock helmet pointed down the valley. "The other advance parties have secured the only other entrance. "She's not going anywhere in the house, walking or not, now."

She stood up and waved a hand at Grandpeppy who was talking to one of the lizard drivers about where to tie up the lizards after the crystals were in place. He looked over at her. "She's trapped herself." She told him. "Except for her wardrobe exit she's locked in."

"Good." He shouted back. "Move the troops out to occupy the cliff walls and put the fire crystal launchers in place. If she tries to fly out, she'll do it in a lot of pieces."

Olaf was sitting behind him, wearing a snow helmet and turning a fire crystal over in his twig fingers. "What can the fire crystals do?"

"The small ones generate pulses of disruptive magic. The larger ones generate magic shields and the launchers generated negative magic which tears spells apart." He smiled. "That's why most magic users leave us pretty much alone. We control most of the fire crystals in existence."

Olaf frowned. "But what about Rufina and Anna? What happens to them if you have to attack?"

"We have to get them out of their prison before we can attack. Otherwise they'll be hurt or killed and I don't see the witch and her minions providing their prisoners with any shields. We'll have to send in our special forces."

Olaf got to his feet and came to attention and saluted. "Do you need volunteers? For Anna and Rufina I'll do anything."

Grandpeppy shook his head. "They'd recognize you too quickly and melt you again." He smiled. "In fall you tend to stand out. We need someone whom they'd never expect to get our troll special forces in close so we can rescue them and destroy the witch's wardrobe."

"You hoo." A voice said from behind them. "Big end of fall blowout sale. I have rakes, boots, and a blister balm of my own invention. Yah?"

They turned and saw Wandering Oaken holding the reins of a large pair of oxen who were pulling a huge wagon. There was a sign just over his head which said. "Wandering Oaken's Traveling Store." A smaller sign below it declared. "And massage parlor". Oaken himself was still wearing his wool sweater and the same little hat. Once again he could only be seen from the waist up as he was sitting behind the seat to hold the reins.

"Anything today, yah?" He asked hopefully.

A very shapely brunette clad in a towel poked her head out of the curtain behind him. "The massage table is ready, Daddy, and Jon is ready to work the kinks out." A large hand came out of the flap above her head and the fingers formed an 'O'.

"Thank you, Sonja and Jon." He looked over at the trolls and Olaf expectantly. "You need something, yah?"

"Oh yes." Grandpeppy said with a smile. "We'll buy everything you have if you'll do us one small favor."

"Oh, yah." Oaken replied. "Who is favor for?"

"We have to rescue Rufina and Princess Anna from the witch." Olaf declared.

"Princess Anna? You mean the nice lady who bought all my winter stock on credit and then paid me back ten times over?"

"I think so." Olaf said. "I wasn't with her then."

Wandering Oaken drew himself up. "She number one customer. Of course we do it for Anna. We do it for very low rate."

"We'll still buy everything you have." Grandpeppy declared.

Wandering Oaken grinned. "I feel good vibes. This my lucky day." He turned around. "Jon and Sonja, we have a customer goodwill mission to do."

Two hands came out of the entrance with their thumbs up; one small and delicate and the other four times as large.

A couple of hours later in the witch's house Anna was feeling it was anything but her lucky day. Ivan the Mad was certainly living up to his name. He hadn't really hurt her but he had made her feel unclean. Now he'd built a small fire and was heating his knife in it. She did not want to think what he was going to do with it. Rufina paced nervously in her cage, torn between wanting to help Anna but afraid for her father if she did.

"Yoo hoo." A familiar voice called from outside the entrance. "Big end of fall blowout sale. I have rakes, boots, and a blister balm of my own invention. Yah?"

Anna looked up in surprise. "Wandering Oaken?"

"Who in the blazes is Wondering Oak kin?" Ivan got to his feet and threw open the door.

Wandering Oaken was revealed sitting behind a large table with a tablecloth that went right to the ground. Sonja was standing behind him still in her towel; she was doing her nails. He held up the bottle of balm and then passed it to Sonja. "I see you have great joy with knives. I have a fine selection, Yah?" Sonja reached down behind the table and laid a glass covered tray on top of the cloth with a big smile. Oaken opened the lid to reveal an array of very wicked looking knives. "All sharp. Perfect for sadist like yourself." Sonja gave Ivan a big smile.

"Wandering Oaken, help me." Anna pleaded. She was startled to see Olaf put a head around Oaken's shoulder and wave at her. "Olaf?" She said softly, feeling hope rise.

Oaken smiled at her as Sonja shoved Olaf back down. "Not worries. Have big selection of lock picks on special sale today. But, first must help this one."

"She aint going nowhere." Ivan growled. "But I like your pig stickers and your girl." He leaned forward. "I'll take them all."

"Yah? All the knives? Very good. We have a wide selection of gift wrap. Big before Christmas sale. Yah?" He steepled his hands expectantly.

"Don't need no girly gift wrap. I'll take them plain." Ivan grabbed the box and grinned at Sonja. "We're going to have fun, lady. You can join the party."

Oaken frowned. "Very nice pond-bottom sediments, yah? That will be one hundred fifty."

Ivan grinned maliciously. "They're free, because I'm taking them and the girl."

"Oh dear, you no pay?" Wandering Oaken got to his feet. "You real thief and kidnapper?"

Ivan who was just as tall and more fit just grinned. "That's right, grand pappy, and who's going to stop me, you or the little bit in the towel here?"

He pulled out one of the knives and made a grab for Sonja who seized his reaching hand and flipped him over her hip to smash into the ground. With a snarl he came to his feet and reached again for Sonja. Her return kick sent the knife case flying and then she kicked him in a sensitive area and he went down.

Wandering Oaken crouched down over him and shook his head while Ivan writhed on the ground. "You really bad man, thief, rapist, sadist, and shoplifter, but I not stop you. Not my job. Real bad man like you is job for store police. " He stood and clapped his hands. "Jon, son, job for you."

Ivan grabbed a knife and came up cursing. "Johnson? Who the hell is Johnson? I'll cut him into little pieces along with you." Ivan drew the knife back to open Oaken up.

The table was shoved back so violently that Ivan was thrown staggering back about ten feet and Jon rose up. He was a foot taller than his father and his hands were a lot bigger than Ivan's. Oaken steepled his fingers. "Oh dear, Jon, son, bad man is shoplifter and rude to Sonja and Anna. Please evict."

"With pleasure, Dad." Jon grabbed Ivan by the fist and pulled him up to his eye level. "You go peacefully, yes?"

"No." Ivan snarled and struck up with the knife in his other hand as hard as he could. He yelled when the knife rebounded from his opponent's chest making his hand red from the impact. He dropped the knife with a curse.

Jon said with a smile. "Armored vest. Forty percent off. Too bad you no buy one." He pulled Ivan up close. "You bad man. You like to have fun with helpless women and hurt them?" His face darkened. "That makes me very, very angry. I'm going to show you why you're never going to do that again."

Anna winced as the shadows on the wall showed Ivan being pounded, stretched, kicked, punched, and slammed into the ground repeatedly in getting his lesson from Jon. It ended with Jon drop kicking the sadist over a cliff between two trees at the edge of the cliff. He fell with a scream into the river far below.

Olaf blew a whistle like a soccer referee and pointed to the center spot. "Goal for our side." He exclaimed. He then ran up and hugged her. "Anna, we're here to rescue you and Rufina." He looked around worriedly. "Where is she?" Anna poked him in the side and pointed upward where Rufina looked down sorrowfully at him in her sound-proof cage.

"Don't worry, beloved. I'll get you out." He detached one stick arm and took the end in his remaining hand to give himself twice the reach. He raised his extended stick arm and swung it like he was attacking a piñata. There was an explosion of glass and Rufina fell sobbing into his arms.

Three trolls wearing rock helmets ran up carrying boxes of fire crystals. "Where's the wardrobe?"

Rufina snarled. "In the next room. I'll show you." She flung the door open and they hurried after her.

"Olaf, how did you get here?" Anna asked as she hugged him.

Olaf grinned. "We came in the store wagon. Oaken sold everything to me and the trolls and he felt so good he agreed to help us." He laughed. "I bought a sled for Rufina."

"Good sled, work well, only used once by elderly one-woman luge lady." Wandering Oaken declared. He smiled at Anna. "You too good a customer to lose, Princess Anna. For you I would've done it for free."

Olaf tugged on Anna's chain without luck. In fact he pulled his twig arms off. He looked at Oaken and Jon. "A little help here."

Jon stepped up and seized the chain. He looped one part about his own waist so that no pressure was on Anna. He then grabbed the chain near the link in the wall and pulled. The chain resisted and then snapped.

Wandering Oaken shook his head. "Inferior metal. Not bought at my store." He looked up as the three trolls and Rufina returned. "Presents left?" At their nods he declared. "Sale over. Time to close up shop."

About a mile from the house they scrambled into the wagon and Oaken shook out the reins. "Time to go." There was a shrill scream from the house. "Way past time." He declared. The oxen broke into a gallop.

"Why did you leave fire crystals in the wardrobe?" Anna asked one of the trolls she'd recognized as the book carrier.

He grinned. "Wardrobe a very strong piece of magic but when operated with magic disrupting fire crystals then not good for user or wardrobe." There was another scream that was closer. "She's hunting for us. I bet she doesn't even know about the fire crystals. Whoever uses that wardrobe next is going to get a big surprise."

"I hope the witch doesn't find us." Anna prayed. As to not finding them that prayer was not going to be answered.


	12. Winter's Fury

Elsa and Georg were sitting on a bench on the balcony to her quarters facing the courtyard, in the late afternoon sunshine waiting for their family members to return from their visit to the rock trolls. Georg had his arm around her shoulders and she had laid her head against his. Even if he only had two years with this beautiful, intelligent woman he knew he'd die happy. Happiness was about to prove elusive.

One of the pair of guards at the open gate called out. "It's Kristoff and he's alone."

The two lovers on the balcony broke apart and stared at each other in shock. Something was terribly wrong. By the time they'd reached the courtyard Kristoff was already dismounting from a laboring Sven.

"Kristoff! Where's Anna?" Elsa called out. Her concern growing at the expression on his face.

Kristoff with his face twisted in rage pointed a finger at Georg. "Ask him. His fire elemental killed Olaf and kidnapped Anna."

Sven screwed up his face in puzzlement. It had been Hans he'd seen.

"That's impossible." Georg protested. "Rufina would never do that."

"I saw her fly off with Anna and I found a puddle with these in it." He held out the carrot and the three coal buttons. "Olaf's dead because of you." He took a swing at Georg.

Georg ducked the swing. "Stop it!" He back peddled, avoiding a second. "Rufina can't fly. She can barely get her own weight off the ground."

"You're a liar!" Kristoff shouted. "I saw her fly off with Anna in a sling." He took another wild swing and this time Georg caught one fist and then the other in his hands; they stood frozen there glaring at each other.

Sven was bouncing around trying to get his friend's attention. Human friend was being stupid again.

Elsa felt herself being torn apart as the two men she cared about the most struggled with each other. The one thought that kept pounding her was of Anna. Her beloved sister was in terrible danger. She raised a hand and an ice wall blew the two of them apart. "Enough!" She shouted. "Anna's been kidnapped and you…" She couldn't finish as she had to choke back the rising storm of fear inside her.

Georg nodded. "You're right, Elsa. We have to rescue Anna." He turned to Kristoff. "What direction was she being taken in?"

"To the west of the North Mountain, as if you didn't know." Kristoff retorted.

"Oh no." Georg paled. "It's the witch. Lisbet has her."

"And you're working with her!" Kristoff looked like he was ready to charge.

"Stop it, Kristoff!" Elsa retorted. "Think of Anna. We have to rescue her."

"Don't tell me you believe him?" Kristoff shouted.

Elsa took hold of herself and thrust the fear and anger back down. "Yes, I do, Kristoff. Now let's concentrate on saving my sister." Sven nodded. Now somebody was making some sense.

Hans who'd been watching all this invisibly shook his head in disgust. He hated true love. It always interfered with his plans. Well he had the perfect counter for true love. He gestured and he was in the green livery of a soldier with the face of one of the Duke of Weselton's thugs with the beard. He was riding a black horse and he had a burnt body slung over the saddle.

Sven's head snapped up and he inhaled deeply. He knew that odor.

Hans rode through the gate shouting. "Queen Elsa! The fire woman just left this." He turned the horse and dropped what looked like Anna's burnt corpse at Elsa's feet.

Elsa stared and staggered back. "No."

"Anna!" Kristoff shouted as he ran to kneel by her still form.

Georg suddenly burst into flames. "You! I'd know your voice and rat-laden odor anywhere, Prince Hans." Sven snorted and pawed the ground.

Hans shouted as loud as he could. "Queen Elsa, her last words before she died in my arms were that 'Georg did it.'"

Elsa fell back, stunned. "No."

Georg came for him in a pillar of fire but then Elsa screamed like a soul possessed. "Annaaaaa!" And winter exploded outwards like a thundering avalanche. A wall of snow slammed Georg off his feet and rolled him over. Sven was knocked down too and unable to get at Hans.

Hans grinned as he vanished. "I could always count on you, Elsa. You're so predictable."

Snow was blowing everywhere as the fjord froze sold. It was like being in the center of a tornado in a blizzard. The temperature crashed and citizens ran for cover. The winds howled like the banshees coming to claim the dying. Drifts over three feet high formed, broke down under the gales, and then reformed even taller further on. Out in the harbor a ship imploded from the pressure of the pack ice.

Georg staggered to his feet, trying to shield his eyes against the ice pellets driven like bullets against his body. The wind abruptly fell silent and he saw Elsa standing there and her face held no love. Fear and anger were completely in control. "Murderer!" She shouted. A ten-foot long icicle tipped like a spear was hurled at him. He raised his hand and his fire blew it into fragments.

"Elsa, Anna is not dead." He shouted trying to reach the woman he loved. "You're being tricked by Prince Hans."

She said nothing but raised a hand and in that moment he saw the face of the woman he loved twisted out of shape by rage. Ice balls almost six inches across beat against him, knocking him off his feet. He threw up more fire and for a moment he had a clear spot.

He saw Elsa gathering herself for an ultimate effort and he knew she'd entirely lost control to the rage. Storm clouds boiled above her head as she stretched her arms up to call down the fury of the blizzard and the air howled with the rage of the rising storm. The ground began to tremble from all the power being concentrated in one spot.

In that moment he knew he'd have to destroy her to stop her and he knew he could never do that. He let the flames die and went to his knees. "I won't fight you, beloved." He said. He bowed his head.

The storm's fury slammed into him, bowling him over and he felt ribs and one of his legs break. He lay there gasping for breath and then Elsa's shadow fell over him. The storm had a clear spot around her as it spun like a funnel cloud about twenty feet above her and he watched sadly as she strode towards him, her face twisted with her rage.

"Don't do this, beloved. Don't let Hans turn you into a monster." He pleaded.

His answer was another punch of snow and ice in the gut and the shattering of more ribs and then she was standing over him screaming. "Fight, damn you! Fight!"

He shook his head. "No. I'll not fight you. I'd rather die." He waited for the end.

Suddenly her hands fisted in his shirt collar and she dragged him up so all he could see was her contorted face. "Why, dammit? Why won't you fight?"

"I swore." He said weakly and coughed blood before he could continue. "That I would never use my powers to hurt another woman that I love." He looked up at her and reached out a shaky hand. "You chose me to love and I chose you to love. I love you and that's the words I'll die with on my lips." He touched her cheek and then slumped.

Elsa started as she felt the overpowering feeling of love from his touch pouring into her and abruptly the storm inside was gone; the rage was gone. The storm outside was just as abruptly vanquished. She looked around in confusion and then over at Kristoff and the body he was cradling in his arms. A tendril of the magic from Georg's love touched her vision and reality slammed into her as Hans' illusions failed. That was not Anna.

Her mind abruptly cleared and she saw everything as it truly was. "No." She whispered. "No. What have I done?" She looked down at Georg's pale beloved face and then pulled him close to her and began crying. "Oh, Georg. Georg. I love you. I love you. What have I done to you? What have I done?"

Sven trotted over to Kristoff who was cradling the burnt corpse. He sniffed and then blew out a breath in disgust. He shoved his nose hard against Kristoff's shoulder. "Leave me alone with Anna, Sven."

Sven shook his head in disgust and then hooked his horns under Kristoff's shoulders and flipped him off the body. Kristoff rolled back to his feet. "What's gotten into you, Sven?"

Sven gave him a look of disgust and rolled the body over to reveal the corpse of a very long-dead wolf. He gave him a look that said. "See."

Kristoff jerked back in shock. "That's not Anna."

Sven's look said. "About time." He took his horns, hooked the carcass and then threw it out into the fjord.

Kristoff staggered over to where Elsa was still cradling Georg in her arms and crying. "That wasn't Anna." He managed to get out.

There was a swoosh of snow and a woman of white on skis stood there in front of him. She raised her goggles. "Dammit. I'm late." Her voice sounded like and she looked like a teenage version of Elsa. A golden crown gleamed from her head.

She knelt by the grieving Elsa and put a hand on her shoulder. "You always had too much temper for your own good, Mom."

Elsa stared up in surprise into a face nearly identical to hers except it was younger and composed of white snow. "Mom?"

"I'm yours totally, created from your snow guardian on the North Mountain. I am the Snow Queen. I'm who you could've become if you'd not been paralyzed by fear." She touched her golden crown. "You discarded this and now I've claimed it for the joys of winter." She looked down at the pale face of Georg. "We don't have time for a family reunion right now as you have to save my stepdad."

Elsa clutched Georg tighter to her. "How? All I have is snow and ice. I don't know how to heal."

The Snow Queen shook her head. "Mom. Mom. You're not thinking clearly. You can give life. Good grief. You created me and my brother Olaf out of snow and ice. Olaf has sticks for arms and living eyes in snow. Of course you can heal. All you have to do is use what Georg has already given you just like Anna did when you took the winter back."

Elsa looked up. "Love?" She said in wonder. "Of course. Love is the answer. Love heals all hurts." She held Georg close and began to sing softly. "I choose, I choose, I choose you to love and to love me. Come back to me. I love you."

Color came back to his face and his breathing became normal. Wrinkles which had formed just before he collapsed faded from view. His wounds vanished. Around her the fall colors returned.

"Way to go, Mom." The Snow Queen clapped her hands. "I knew you could do it."

"He's not waking." Elsa looked up in worry. "Why isn't he waking up?"

Her daughter laid a hand on her shoulder. "He's still hurt but you've stabilized him. To heal him completely you need more power, a lot more power, and you'll get that from Anna."

Elsa stared at her daughter. "Anna doesn't have any powers."

"Wrong again, Mom. Aunt Anna is a magic amplifier. She amplified your powers last time to prevent Hans from killing both of you and she can do it again so that you can heal your beloved. Leave him in the care of Kristoff and Sven. Anna has been kidnapped by a witch and you and I have a war to fight and Anna to rescue before Georg can be completely healed."

Kristoff lifted the unconscious man by his armpits out of Elsa's reluctant grasp. "So he had nothing to do with what happened to Anna?" He asked.

"Of course not." The Snow Queen replied. "You have Prince Hans and a witch to thank for all that happened here."

"I'll thank him all right if I see him again." Kristoff growled. Sven snorted hard and shook his antlers angrily.

Prince Hans who had just watched all his careful plans come to ruin stepped back invisibly. "I better get some more power from Lisbet to handle this little problem and warn her." He began the preparations to open the wardrobe.

Queen Elsa beckoned a couple of soldiers over. "Put Georg to bed in my quarters and double the guard until I return."

They looked at her questioningly. "My Queen, your quarters?"

"Do it." She commanded. "I have no intention of ever letting him out of my sight again."

Kristoff said to the soldiers as they carried Georg back to the castle. "With luck it sounds like Arendelle could have two royal weddings very soon." They chuckled.

"How are we going to get to the battlefield in time?" Elsa asked her daughter. "We can't fly."

The Snow Queen smiled. "I have some thoughts on that." She leaned over and whispered in her Mother's ear.

Farmers outside of town who were cleaning up from the early snow and trying to rescue their pumpkins and squashes were startled to see their road turn to white ice and then an ice sleigh pulled by seven ice reindeer go roaring by. The sleigh carried two women whose white and blond hair streamed behind them. Each was armed for war with an ice sword, shield and a spear and they had body armor made out of ice. As the sleigh passed the music to Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' played.

A few minutes after they passed the ice melted, leaving a muddy road behind. Everyone had seen that these women were no one you wanted to mess with as their expressions were grim and determined.

One old farmer said to another. "I always knew Odin's Valkyries would return one day."

The other shivered. "The choosers of the slain. But this time I think they're going to do the slaying."

Elsa was grimly gripping the front guard of the sleigh as they sped along. The Snow Queen who was holding the reins shook her head. "Come on. Lighten up, Mom. Admit it. When you were a kid that deep inside you always wanted to drive this sleigh." She threw her head back and laughed. "Eat your heart out, Saint Nick."

Elsa flicked a glance at her. "Are you sure I created you?"

The Snow Queen laughed. "You certainly did. I'm the side you repressed for ten years. At first I was your anger and fear personified as the being called Marshmallow by Olaf and now I'm the kid who was frozen out when you wouldn't let anyone in. I'm apparently the one prophesized by Grandpeppy."

Elsa frowned. "What prophecy?"

"The one that concerns you." She screwed up her face as she recalled it. "It's called the Glory of the Snow Queen.

Summer shall become winter

And snowmen will now enter

That will be the first warning

Of the end of the warming.

And then the Ice Queen will come

And build her ice palace home.

And winter will be everywhere.

No shelter from the snow here.

The Ice Queen will soon relent

And of ice and snow repent.

But summer will not long last

As winter comes with a blast.

And then there will be seen

The glory of the Snow Queen.

"What glory?" Elsa asked. "What happens next?"

Her daughter smiled. "I think we get to make that up as we go along." She leaned over and shouted at the deer. "Faster, boys, we have a princess to rescue." They sped on into the glow of the setting sun.


	13. Elsa Versus the Witch

To say Lisbet was furious was to understate her condition. Not only had Hans failed miserably in his task to kill Elsa but that idiot Ivan had let that helpless little twit get away from him. Well she did have help but for Ivan to be outwitted by a storekeeper? This was an insult beyond imagining.

She considered using her spell to kill Georg but then discarded it. It would be far better to have Hans kill both men in cold blood right in Elsa's quarters so that if Elsa and Anna made it back they could both see what their parents' selfishness had cost them.

She encountered Ivan lying on a rock out in the middle of the river. Without hesitation she reached into her right pocket and pulled out a grey packet of already prepared spell. She hurled it at him and turned him into a rat. She left him squeaking in the middle of the river as the hawks began to dive. If he survived, she'd collect him later.

She saw the wagon up ahead and grinned. "There you are." She dove for the wagon.

She landed in front of the wagon causing the oxen to shuffle to a stop. "Give me Anna and I may let you live!"

Wandering Oaken shook his head. "Sale on fall items. Not on Anna."

Jon stuck his head out of the flap above his father's head. ""Gosh, you're beautiful. I think I love you."

She couldn't help but preen at that compliment from a handsome man who really meant it and a small part of her regretted that it could never be. "I may let you live handsome." She said with a smile.

The smile faded. "But the rest of you unless you give me Anna, I'll turn you either into frogs." She lifted a green packet. "Or blow your minds back to childhood to better make you my slaves." She lifted a yellow packet. She grinned fully confident. "Your choice." She sent a mental command to her walking house and it got to its feet and began striding towards them, making the ground tremble.

Inside the wagon Anna was protesting that she should just surrender herself but none of her friends were having any of it. Olaf retorted. "I'd rather be a snow frog then give you up, Anna."

The argument became academic as just at that moment Prince Hans finally accessed the wardrobe from within the castle at Arendelle.

The wardrobe glowed as it responded and started to open. That was as far as it got as three boxes of fire crystals disrupted its magic. The wardrobe struggled to obey and Hans in a panic increased the power of the spell and the fire crystals in response glowed bright red. By the time he had gone through three cycles the fire crystals were glowing like a red sun about to go supernova and that is something like what happened inside the walking house.

Lisbet was about to uncork her magic and pick Anna out of the ruins when the skies in front of her flashed a bright red, nearly blinding her. A huge red cloud tore up into the sky, shoving all the other clouds aside. It slowly spread out, forming a red mushroom.

Wandering Oaken shouted as he hit the release for the oxen. "Everyone out! Down in ditch! Fire sale about to start!" He followed his own orders by diving into the ditch along with everyone else. The oxen took off running and almost ran over the witch who was trying to clear her eyes.

"What? She rubbed her eyes and then was nearly deafened by the largest sound she'd ever heard. "I'll kill you all!" She shouted as the sound faded.

"Get in ditch." Wandering Oaken warned. "Big wind coming. Clear all shelves."

"What are you talking about?" She raised the frog spell and then frowned. Why were the trees on that hill towards the strange red cloud waving and then rushing through the air at her? She gasped. The wardrobe. She tried to create a spell and was way too late as a wall of trees and branches swept her away. The green packet bounced along the ground and ended up in front of Anna who scooped it up.

"Poor beautiful woman gone." Jon said sorrowfully.

"She be back." Oaken declared. "She not like fire sale. Want refund."

Grandmommy who was watching from her ledge as the red mushroom blossomed declared. "That's the sign. The wardrobe is destroyed."

Grandpeppy ordered with a shout. "Attack. The witch must fall." With answering shouts the trolls poured into the valley on the backs of their hissing lizards.

After the wind died down, Anna helped Olaf and one of the trolls out of the ditch. Olaf then helped Rufina. The rest scrambled out and they all joined Oaken, Jon, and Sonja who were staring down the valley at a twisted pile of trees.

"Anything, Dad?" Sonja asked.

"Looks like fire sale at lumberyard, yah?" He observed.

"Poor pretty woman." Jon declared.

As if in answer the center of the pile exploded and the witch rose into the air. She was absolutely silent and that was more terrifying then if she had been screaming at them. She floated until she was above them. There were holes in her silver dress and scratches could be seen on the revealed bare skin but otherwise not a hair was out of place. She pointed a finger at Anna and beckoned.

Anna swallowed. She wasn't going to let her friends be killed in a useless fight. She stepped forward.

Wandering Oaken put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her and shook his head 'no'. He glared up at the witch. "No sale."

"I regret your deaths." The witch declared. "I do respect courage."

The trolls trained their fire crystals on her and she only laughed. "It would take many more than the puny number you have to worry me." She said as she batted away the red beams.

"I'll never give you the amplification." Anna declared.

"Never is a long time." The witch raised a hand and shoved everyone surrounding Anna aside. Her spell was just lifting Anna into the air when a red beam two feet across intersected her and blew her backwards.

There was a roar of cheers. The other trolls had arrived.

The witch scrambled to her feet and held up a hand to bat away the beam. A second and a third joined the first and then a fourth added its powers. The witch began to glow. "You're fools!" She shouted. "Even a hundred crystals won't stop me."

"Let's try that then." Grandmommy retorted. "Fire all the crystals!"

The witch vanished in the resulting red glare. For a moment her shape seemed to waver and then she thrust out with both hands and the beams shattered. "Now you will see my true powers and die." She stepped forward with no mercy in her eyes.

With a swoosh of white snow the sleigh arrived and disgorged Elsa and the Snow Queen. Elsa began to stalk angrily forward with the white magic of winter sparkling from her curled fingers that were pointed at the witch. The witch threw up her own hands and nervously eyed her as she approached. Elsa didn't say anything, the determination and rage on her face said it all.

The Snow Queen smiled. "Now you're in for it." She said as she readied her snow magic.

The witch fired a beam of light and Elsa blew it into nothingness. "You hurt my sister. You hurt the man I love and now you'll pay." Then winter descended and a raging whirlwind of snow fell on the witch. The temperature plummeted and the ground swelled from the localized cold. The few trees still standing exploded as their water and sap froze.

The wind abruptly slowed as the witch began to fight back. The Snow Queen added her powers but soon it became obvious it was not enough. The witch thrust the wall of snow back at them.

Elsa gathered herself for the ultimate effort and once more the clouds rolled overhead and then she unleashed the fury of the blizzard as the ground trembled, but as the white cloud lifted it was obvious the witch was still standing and fighting back. The storm roared like a snow tornado and ice boulders smashed into Lisbet but still the witch fought.

The Snow Queen pointed at Anna and glared at Grandpeppy. "Are you going to tell her or am I what she needs to do? There's no time for the usual mystic crud."

Grandpeppy sighed. "It goes against the grain. I like being mysterious." He turned to Anna. "Anna, you can help your sister. Once again love is the answer. You access the power with love. That's why it would never work for the witch when she tried to force you."

"Love?" Anna suddenly smiled and she stepped forward to where her sister was straining to control the witch and losing. She put her hand on Elsa's shoulder. "Love is the answer. Take my love and use the power, Elsa."

Elsa gave her a quick smile as she felt the flood of power. She gestured and grunted with effort as she did so. This time when the blizzard descended there was a flash of light so bright that it was blinding and when it cleared the witch was frozen inside a sphere of ice with her mouth open in a silent scream.

The Snow Queen laughed. "And that's how we do it in the big time."

Elsa hugged Anna. "Thank you, Anna."

Anna hugged her back. "Anytime, Elsa."

Anna released her sister and stared sadly at the frozen witch. "I feel sorry for her."

Elsa raised a questioning eyebrow. Anna sighed. "She's a little older than us and her powers were running wild like yours were. She and her brother sought help from our parents but they were turned away from the castle and told that the gates were closed. Her brother died and they put her in a madhouse. She's been insane ever since."

Elsa stared at the witch. "No wonder she hates us." She sighed. "Mom and Dad tried to protect us and went too far. By trying to do good I guess they did evil too." She looked over at her sister. "But what can we do? The past is in the past and we can never go back."

Grandmommy stepped up. "There may be a way." She looked over at Grandpeppy. "Grandpeppy can work magic other than winter and snow." She handed him one of the witch's yellow packets. "I think the sleeping princess tale works here, especially if we have her lose all memories after she was twelve. It'd be like giving her a second chance." He smiled in agreement.

He held his hand out to Anna. "I'll need the power." She nodded and gave it to him. He cast his hand at the ice sphere. There was an explosion and the witch was revealed as the smoke cleared sleeping on a bier. She was simply dressed in a black skirt and a white blouse. She was even more beautiful than she'd been in her silver dress as all the hatred that had animated her for so long was gone.

Grandmommy looked over at Grandpeppy. "Of course it'll take a kiss of true love to awake her."

"Of course." He grinned and then he kissed Grandmommy. All the trolls kissed.

The Snow Queen said as Anna and Elsa watched fascinated. "I hate to be a killjoy, but we have to get back and save my stepdad, Mom. We are on the clock here and I think Prince Hans is still running around loose."

"Everybody get aboard the sleigh that's going." Elsa declared. She then turned to Anna. "You always wanted to see Saint Nick's sleigh. Now you get to ride in it." Anna put her hand on Elsa's shoulder and as the power flowed the sleigh rose into the air born on the winter winds. Anna gasped in delight. Then the sleigh sped like a streak back to Arendelle.

Prince Hans got to his feet and blew black smoke out of his mouth. What had happened? He saw a scorch mark on the wall that looked like his own outline. Obviously, something had gone very badly for the witch. He could either run for his life or use the powers he had to really hurt someone. He remember Georg punching him and cursed. Revenge got priority. He brushed the ashes off and went out to do his farewell act. He ran across the yard and scrambled into the castle through a window.

Kristoff was still arguing with one of the guards who did not want to let Sven into the Queen's quarters when Sven suddenly jerked his head up and snorted. He reared up, scattering the yelling guards and then charged down the hall.

Kristoff pounded after him. "Sven, what's gotten into you?" Sven just snorted and charged harder. He turned sliding past a doorway, scrambled back, and then charged through it. Kristoff grabbed the door frame and fell. He looked up just in time to see Sven leap over the bed bearing the unconscious Georg.

His horns slashed in a vicious sideways stroke. There was a scream and then Prince Hans appeared on the end of the horns. "You are getting to be a bad habit, horn head." He gestured and Sven was once again a toy.

He straightened his lapels not seeing Kristoff's stealthy approach. "Let's finish what we started." He declared. A wicked knife appeared in his hand. He leaned over the unconscious man. "Remember you punched me, you fool, over mistreating women of all things. It's time for revenge." He drew back the knife.

He never got to use it as Kristoff swung him around and then punched him in the stomach. "Yes it is." Hans slumped, gasping for breath.

Kristoff wacked a fist into his open palm. "That was for the first time you hurt Anna." Hans tried to gesture but Kristoff punched him again. "That's for the second time you hurt her." Kristoff started punching him as hard as he could. "This is for all your meanness to me, to Sven, to Georg, to Olaf, to Rufina, and to Elsa." Each name was emphasized by a solid punch.

Hans slumped unconscious. Kristoff was just wondering if he should kick him a couple of times for good measure when there was a swirl of released magic and Sven reappeared. The reindeer sat on Hans. "Good boy." Kristoff told him. Sven smiled and lolled his tongue out.

A few minute later the guards were just picking up Hans when there was a swirl of snow outside the window and an ice sleigh appeared. Elsa was the first through the window and ran to Georg. She cradled his head in her arms and glared at Hans. "Did he?"

"No, Queen Elsa." One of the guards holding Hans replied. "Thanks to Kristoff and Sven, especially Sven, he was stopped before he could harm the ambassador."

Elsa turned back to Georg. "I think it's time, Anna." She held her hand out to her sister.

Anna grasped her sister's in her own. "Make it a kiss of true love." She suggested.

Elsa nodded and slowly her lips approached Georg's. "I love you." She whispered. Then she kissed him. She felt the power surge through her and into him and then she felt the return surge of his love and his arm came up around her neck and pulled her into an even deeper kiss.

"Never underestimate the power of true love." Anna told Kristoff. He grabbed her and kissed her.

After they unclenched one of the guards asked. "Princess Anna, what shall we do with this piece of trash?"

Anna stepped forwarded and pulled the amulet off of Hans' neck. She handed Kristoff the amulet and then a green pack she'd pocketed after the witch's defeat. "You do the magic." She told him. "I'll supply the amplification." He nodded.

Elsa was holding on tightly to Georg. "I love you." She said. "But I have to admit I did a little more than just heal your recent wounds." He raised an eyebrow. She smiled. "I took back a lot of what the burning did to age you and repaired the damage. You are going to have to put up with me for a lot longer than just two years." She touched his hair. "I kept your hair white as that's how I know you." She grinned impishly. "Besides I like a roof with snow on it."

He held her face in his hands. "You're all I want or will need for the rest of my life no matter how long it is." He kissed her and her arms pulled him tightly to her.

"Another fixer upper successfully fixed up." Olaf declared, holding Rufina in his arms before giving her a hissing kiss from melting snow.

Prince Hans awakened to a splitting headache. He hurt all over. What had that peasant oaf done to him? He looked around. He seemed surrounded by mirrors. He stared. Bad mirrors. They didn't show him as handsome as he was. He tried to get to his feet but hopped instead. "What the blazes?" He tried to say. All that came out was. "Croak. Croak." He leaped futilely against the glass croaking.

One of the sailors loading the bottle with the struggling green frog aboard the ship said. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."

The other replied. "I think there's a big enough puddle at home for him to be king of." They ignored the protesting frog and left him hopping around his glass prison.

Back at the recent battleground Wandering Oaken said to Jon as he sat there staring at the sleeping woman on her bier. "Don't worry. She make good draw at store."

"Dad!" Sonja said sharply.

"She doesn't deserve that." His son growled. "She deserves respect."

Wandering Oaken looked embarrassed. "Businessman got in heart's way." He laid his hand on his son's shoulder. "I apologize. Of course we treat her right."

Jon looked up at his father. "Can I kiss her?"

Wandering Oaken sighed. Might as well get it over with. His son had been infatuated with the witch from the moment he had first set eyes on her. "You may, but remember Grandpeppy said she would think she was twelve years old and remember it may not be true love and kiss will fail."

Jon smiled shyly. "If it is true love, I wait until she's ready. I in no hurry."

Wandering Oaken smiled and stepped back. "Go ahead."

Jon leaned forward and kissed the sleeping woman. There was no result. Jon turned sadly away as his father put a hand on his shoulder in consolation and Sonja put her hand on his other shoulder. There was a long silence.

Into the silence Lisbet's voice, but a much younger one, asked. "Where am I?" They whirled to see her sitting up. "Who are you? Where's my brother Eric?"

Jon almost went to kiss her again but then stopped and stared at her with love. His dreams had come true.

Wandering Oaken called out. "Grandpeppy, I hope you have good story to tell." He shook his head.

Grandpeppy's mouth fell open. "It wasn't supposed to be this quick." He complained.

Sonja hurried by Jon and took the confused girl's hand and began soothing her as Grandpeppy came up with a suitable cover story to explain the missing years. When he finished, she looked up at Jon and smiled shyly at him.

Grandpeppy turned to the rest of the trolls. "This is how we trolls make war. The witch has fallen." The trolls all cheered. He grinned and pointed at Lisbet who was smiling at Jon. "The witch has fallen all right, she's fallen in love. That's why they call us the love experts." They cheered even louder, hugged each other, and kissed.

Wandering Oaken grinned and shook his head. "We give her good home. No pressure. Let her decide what she wants." It was going to be an interesting several years with a young woman who was going to become one of the most powerful magic users who ever existed. Never a dull moment at the store.

Two weeks later Elsa and Anna were just sitting down for lunch with Georg and Kristoff. Even Sven was there with his new medal that proclaimed him 'A Hero of Arendelle' and ready to eat a huge bowl of carrots.

The seneschal entered. "Excuse me, Queen Elsa, but I'm afraid we have a royal visitor."

Elsa frowned. "Who? I don't remember any appointment."

The seneschal sighed. "It's the King of the Southern Isles. His ship just came into the harbor and."

He was interrupted by a jovial voice from the door. "Oh don't stand on ceremony so much, Kai my old friend." A red-haired middle-aged man with a short red beard and a gold crown on his head entered the room and bowed. "Your Majesties, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, it is my pleasure to finally meet you in person. I am Lars Erikson."

He paused and smiled. "You are both more beautiful then I was told and you both have your Mother's eyes. I also hear you are getting married. My congratulations to you. I'm glad everything worked out."

"Worked out?" Elsa asked. Then she nodded. "It was you who set this all in motion by sending Georg here, wasn't it? I began to wonder when you sent those horrible biographies."

He nodded. "I plead guilty as charged. After your miraculous revelation I realized that the whole region was balanced on a knife point and war loomed. Someone was sure to try and assassinate you and your economy was suffering from ending your trade relations with Weselton. Then there were my traitorous son's actions and the impact of the Treaty of Oslo. If I didn't act there was going to be no happy ending and so I acted."

He looked over at Georg. "And I had a friend whom I greatly admired and trusted who was just waiting to die and I didn't want that either. So I cast one stone to kill multiple birds." He growled. "I did not count on the witch or Hans getting involved. For the misery they caused you I apologize."

Queen Elsa smiled thinly. "You're like a red spider spinning intrigues from the center of his web. At least that's what my father called you."

King Lars laughed heartedly. "I've been called worse and I take it as a complement." He smiled. "I bring several solutions which should make your reign here long and happy and benefit your people and mine too. First, I propose an alliance between Arendelle and the Southern Isles. That should make people like that fool in Weselton leave you alone. Second to replace the lost trade I propose an exclusive trade agreement between us with reduced tariffs and loading charges which should stimulate both economies. And third, I'm a sentimental old fool and I'd like to be a guest at your weddings."

Elsa smiled at him. "I can see I'm going to have to watch you carefully, old spider, but I think we can talk about all three. I do have a question though."

He spread his hands. "Ask away."

"Were your six sons as idiotic as they appeared to be? I can't countenance after meeting you that they are."

He laughed. "They should've been clowns and actors instead of princes. They missed their callings. No, they were all part of the scheme."

"And Georg?" Kristoff asked suspiciously.

"Knew nothing. He would never have come if he knew what I intended."

"Damn right." Georg growled and then he looked over at Elsa and smiled. "But I'm glad I did come for I found that which I'd thought lost forever." She smiled back, took his hand and squeezed it. He looked sternly at King Lars. "I assume you're here because you got my letter of resignation. Be on notice that I am now a citizen of Arendelle and that I intend to see that Arendelle gets the best trading treaty she can out of you."

"Wounded by the one I helped." The King theatrically slapped his head. He looked at Elsa. "Does that mean we will talk?"

She gestured at the table. "Take a seat, your Majesty. Afterwards we'll see." She looked over at the seneschal. "Please set another place, Kai. We have a guest for lunch."

King Lars sat down next to Sven and his eyes lit up. "Carrots? I love carrots."

Kristoff laughed. "Sven, share. We'll get you more carrots."

Sven held out a carrot in his mouth. The King took it and bit a piece off and chewed while he handed the other end for Sven to take a bite. Sven got a look on his face that said. "I like you." It was an auspicious start to a new alliance.


	14. Wedding Day: Anna is 18

"Are we ready?" Elsa asked. She was wearing a gorgeous snowflake dress.

Anna in a copy of an old Arendelle custom gown nodded. "I can't wait."

Rufina in a glittering golden creation of fire raised a thumb's up. "I thought it'd never get here."

The women pulled their veils down. "Let's do it." Elsa declared. They were walked down the aisle individually in the mountain home of the trolls each led in turn by Grandpeppy as surrogate father for each of the brides. The Snow Queen and Grandmommy were the bridesmaids for all three. The former witch Lisbet now aged mentally fourteen was sitting with Wandering Oaken and his family and holding Jon's hand tightly.

Wandering Oaken declared to all who would listen. "In two years be having large pre-wedding sale with bargains for everyone, yah?"

Standing beside Georg as best man was King Lars of the Southern Isles. The King's twelve sons all sat in the audience and smiled as they watched someone else get married. They were all practical jokers and were introducing the whoopee cushion and joy buzzer to Arendelle. The King declared they would either shape up or join a circus. The thirteenth son was still croaking in his frog pond and being fed centipedes.

Trolls all sang. "True. True. True love. Truuuuu Luuuv."

Grandpeppy handed them over to their grooms and the ceremony continued on until the end with only one miscue. Kristoff searched his pockets frantically for the ring. The search ended when his best reindeer poked him with his nose. He turned to see the ring on one of the reindeer's tines. There were no more mishaps.

"You may kiss your trollfully wed brides." The troll minister declared. "You're now prepared to live trollfully ever after."

At this point we leave our three happy couples as all three kiss with passion. We linger on Elsa and Georg's happy faces, then Anna and Kristoff's and finally Olaf and Rufina's as they kiss and the beauty of winter explodes all around them as the Snow Queen does the honors.

May all their days be as happily ever after as they can be and yours as well.


End file.
